


Too Cruel

by zzariyo



Series: Memories Are Nothing But Painful [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: AU where Zelda and Link are instantly good friends, Angst, Because I'm a goblin baby and forgot their conflict, Blood, Childhood Memories, Falling In Love, M/M, Memories, Near Death Experiences, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Selectively Mute Link, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, literally just made my own backstory for Revali cuz it b like that, lmao if you can call it that, occasional cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-03-30 03:55:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 74,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13942056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zzariyo/pseuds/zzariyo
Summary: For a hundred years, Revali the Rito champion has been sealed on Vah Medoh totally and utterly alone. He watches the sun and moon rise and fall over the mountains, he observes his people down below, and he recalls moments of his life...his childhood, his days of training, his times with the other Champions...and his slow-burning, but very deep, love for Link, the one who had taken the role of 'Hero of Legend' from him.edit:this was my first time writing in a very very long time, so it's pretty rough for a while and some things don't really make much sense. Either way, this whole fic and series is very dear to me so I hope you enjoy it!!edit 2:i've started editing this.... So far, I have edited Chapter 1 and 2.





	1. Birth of Resentment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfiction, so I apologize if anything is OOC! Also, sorry for the first chapter all being a repeat of stuff you might already know. This is just where we take off into some yummy stuff.  
> For the record, I started writing some parts before playing the DLC like an idiot so some things don't match up with canon....but overall I try my best to not go against it.  
>   
>   
> 

 

 

 

One hundred years.

It had been an entire century, if not longer, since Revali’s agonizing failure caused him to lose his life by the hand of the Windblight Ganon who took over his very own Divine Beast. 

It was pathetic.

One hundred years had his spirit been trapped on Van Medoh, an ancient machine that he had once piloted before it turned on him.

One hundred years had he been stuck there all alone without anything to do except wait and watch the sun and moon rise and fall over the mountains.

One hundred years ago had the Calamity struck, not only possessing the Divine Beasts who meant to protect and fight for all of Hyrule, but also all of the Guardians who were meant to be on their side.

No one could’ve seen that coming. 

The destruction. 

The devastation. 

Villages and towns alike had been torn apart, with countless people dying painful, terrifying and excruciating deaths.

There was nothing they could have done to stop it and that was the most painful thing about it. It was unbelievably cruel how Revali was forced to watch monsters and corrupted machines tear apart his home and kill his people after he was defeated and sealed in Van Medoh. 

He would never forget the screams. 

Sometimes if he wasn’t careful, the screams of those souls he had failed to save echoed in his mind.

It was too cruel.

  
  


Being able to watch his people rebuild Rito Village wasn’t cruel though. He took pride in watching his fellow Rito doing their damnedest to bring back their home to what it once was. It was a painfully slow process at first, but soon there was a gradual growth. 

The village definitely wasn’t quite the large, bustling place that it once was after a hundred years of rebuilding and restoring, but that was fair. Nearly everything had been burned to the ground after all.

Revali also took pride in watching his people live their lives happily despite the past. He watched hatchlings run and play, he watched teens and adults go through their ups and downs, and he watched the soldiers train and fight for their people. He loved watching them all hatch and grow into fine Rito. It brought him such a prideful, wonderful joy he couldn’t possibly describe.

That didn’t keep the tormenting loneliness and solitude at bay, however. It was only him there stuck up in the air, and really there wasn’t much to do aside from waiting, watching, thinking, and remembering. At times he would find himself reliving moments of his life, thinking back to all sorts of events that he had lived through.

He would think about his childhood, about being a hatchling full of hope, full to the brim with the determination to become the best soldier he could be. 

He was a hatched prodigy, blessed with natural archery skills that eventually were to be honed into an unbeatable talent. Hylia had also graced him with wings that could cut through the air and send him soaring even at a very young age.

He would recall his teenage years, where his stubborn and rude attitude began to take root. It was then that his innocent determination became dangerous and cold, leading him to fight monsters too far up from his skill level just so he could prove himself, even though he would only be rewarded with severe injuries that became small scars. 

The strive, the need, the  _ hunger _ for being the best there ever was became a crippling obsession and he would destroy his body if it meant that he would be a hero….a  _ legend. _

He remembered all the days and nights he broke his body to perfect his incredible ability to create his own updraft. 

He was the first, and probably the last, of his kind to achieve such a feat, and yet that hadn’t been good enough for him. He had been so foolish, his own dark insecurities blinding him from taking better care of himself and even from being thoughtful of his treatment of others. 

And After a hundred years of being left alone with his thoughts, it was hard not to look back at those moments with utter distaste.

He had told himself the world didn’t deserve an embodiment of perfection like him. But no matter how many times he would try to brainwash himself, the belief of the world not deserving someone as  _ useless and hopeless _ as him would seep up through his counterfeit confidence.

 

He would relive the moments he had with the other Champions and the princess...his companions. He would think about how at first he hated the fact that he was not in the spotlight and was rather a mere supporting role and it had affected his attitude for a long time. 

Although, much to his dismay, he found himself eventually enjoying his time with them, and becoming close to them. The times they’d spend together had created some of his favorite memories to look back on.

And he would think about Link.

He would think about Link a lot.

  
  


~~~

 

He remembered the day that Princess Zelda had come to the village with a Hylian warrior following close behind her. 

The warrior in question’s face was in a constant smile as he looked around the village curiously, politely waving or nodding to Rito as they walked past. 

Truthfully, Revali had noticed him and mistook him for some brain-dead puppy hired to follow the princess on her travels for “protection”, and what a poor excuse for a bodyguard he was. How was he supposed to protect royalty with that small body and those tiny little arms?

However, when the Elder called Revali over to his hut to meet the two Hylians so they could explain to him why they came all that way, Revali was hit by the realization that this tiny, little man was given such a  _ major  _ role in this operation that they had spoken of; one planned by the king himself with the goal to defeat Ganon. 

This snot-nosed pretty-boy with a dopey smile was going to be in charge of a sword with the ability to seal darkness, while the most skilled archer of all the Rito was left to be just a sidekick? 

It was…It was absolutely  _ ludicrous.  _

He almost declined because of the absurdity before Zelda had said with desperation in her voice, “We must protect the precious life of the land from the Calamity’s grasp at all costs. Hyrule needs you, Revali.”

_ Wow. _

He knew he was going to accept, there was no way he wouldn’t. There was no better way to prove oneself to the world than by saving it, of course. Although, he decided against accepting the offer immediately and told her to wait for his final answer to avoid looking desperate and to get a bit of extra time perfecting his updraft. 

Soon, he was to become the Rito champion and pilot to a beast made from ancient Sheikah technology to aid in the defeat of Calamity Ganon.

He would have preferred to be the main hero, of course. Truthfully, he never did stop feeling wronged by that, but in the end, it truly was an honor to at least be a part of the fight.

  
  


~~~

  
  


After Zelda was successful in convincing a Champion from the different races of Hyrule to gain the cause, she assembled a meetup with them all, considering that they would all be working with each other for a long while. She had set a meeting at an inn in a Central Hyrule town where they would travel to the castle from the next morning together. 

After everyone had finally arrived, they went to sit at one of the inn’s tables to eat, drink, and get to know one another before the trek the next day.

Revali perhaps should have made the effort to give a good first impression and acted politely to his future colleagues, but he, of course, didn’t. Instead, he made snide remarks whenever possible and closely observed and judged the other Champions at the table.

Mipha was a shorter Zora girl with electric pink scales who happened to be the princess of the Zora; the eldest child of King Dorephan, no less. She was soft spoken, nearly whispering every time that she spoke. Clearly, she was a soft and gentle soul, yet could take care of herself, as she wielded a trident confidently. 

Mipha also had a painfully noticeable, innocent crush on Link, who supposedly was an old friend of hers. She had a bad taste in men then, obviously.

Urbosa was a tall and powerful Gerudo woman who was the chief of Gerudo Town. She carried herself with a strong sense of confidence that was nearly blinding. Apparently, she and Princess Zelda were already close; something about Urbosa being close friends with her mother, and Revali could feel the intense motherly love she had for Zelda radiating off of her.

And Daruk was your typical Goron; large, hearty, and loud. He never refrained from cracking a joke when there was an opening and erupting in a burst of earth-quaking laughter. This annoyed Revali to no end, yet it was apparent that everyone else found this endearing. 

There was a certain respect that Revali couldn’t help but have for him, though. King Rhoam had hand-picked Daruk, as he was the most powerful and prized warrior of the Goron. So thus, Revali, also being the most prized warrior of his race, had something in common with the massive halfwit. If that had been the case, he  _ must _ have been pretty good at fighting.

Still, his repulsion towards Link lingered and it felt like it had grown substantially since he last crossed paths with him. The annoyance with the fact that Revali should have been the one to be the Hero stayed and festered. 

What made that Hylian better than him? From what he could tell, nothing. He was just some doofus with a sword that happened to be at the right place at the right time. 

What a joke.

Revali had been a bit surprised, however. The Link he had first met was different than the one who was there in front of him then. The one before looked happy and joyful, but now his face was mostly blank with a sort of somberness hiding behind it. Sometimes the corners of his lips would curve up slightly into a small smile, but really that was the only glimmer of emotion he had shown. 

The Rito was curious about this. Was Rito Village really that great that it could spark happiness in the bleakest of people? 

Whatever. Not like it mattered to him.

It was irritating enough that Link seemed incapable of holding conversations, too. Whenever Revali tried to throw some remark at him, or anyone else really, Link wouldn’t reply or retort, and instead would just nod or shrug or something along those lines. 

How utterly rude.

It wasn’t until Revali brought it up that Zelda put her hand to her head and said, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I should’ve mentioned this sooner.”

Mipha also looked alarmed. “Oh dear, I was planning on explaining that to everyone else, too. I can’t believe I forgot.”

Revali, Urbosa, and Daruk exchanged confused glances as they waited for one of the two girls to explain. Link, however, was looking down at his hands and looked to be ashamed of something.

Finally, Zelda spoke up. “You see, Link is selectively mute.”

_ Oh. _ Well, that made sense.

Urbosa and Daruk responded with some “oh”s while Revali rudely asked, “Ugh, couldn’t he be selectively  _ not _ mute?” 

After he grumbled that, from the corner of his eye he noticed Link awkwardly shuffle in his chair.

“No, it doesn’t quite work like that.” Mipha sweetly replied, despite the question being blunt and uncalled for.

Zelda’s face scrunched up at Revali. “Despite the name, he can’t exactly pick and choose when and when not he can talk. It’s not a  _ choice.” _ She leaned over to Link, who was sitting across from her to grab his hand that was resting on the table. She smiled at him before she added, mostly directing it at Link, “And it isn’t a hindrance to  _ anybody _ . We just wanted to tell you three so you would know he wasn’t being rude or antisocial or anything of the sort.”

Urbosa looked over to Link, a small, comforting smile on her lips. “That makes a lot of sense. Thank you for telling us.” 

Daruk grunted in agreement.

“Link usually uses sign language to talk. Mipha and I are mostly fluent in it,” Zelda said. “And I apologize for asking this of you three, but do you think you could learn just a smidge of sign language? I know we all already have a lot on our plates, but it would just make everything a bit easier.”

Link looked down at his lap while one of his hands went up to rub his chest in a circle. Due to his sorrowful expression, the sign clearly meant  _ sorry _ .

Daruk reached around the corner of the table to smack Link on the back, who jumped out of his seat and yipped out of surprise. 

“Don’t worry, little buddy. I don’t mind learning some signs for you. We’re companions now after all! Besides, it might even come in handy.” 

Link looked up at him and smiled the biggest smile he had that night, and nodded.

“It really isn’t any trouble at all.” Urbosa beamed. “And Daruk is right. It could be helpful in the future.”

Everyone turned to Revali to wait for his response and judging by their faces, they all probably expected him to say something else incredibly rude. 

In spite of their expectations, he surprised them all by saying, “I already know some sign language anyway. We use it as a form of communication during our hunts to keep quiet.” 

This was true, but his vocabulary on sign language wasn’t as extensive as he made it sound. He basically only knew a handful of commands and names of animals from his training. 

Revali crossed his wings and shrugged before he continued. “What’s learning a few more signs anyway?”

The Hylian Champion’s face lit up and his lips curled open to show an even bigger, brighter, toothy smile. He and Revali made eye contact and Link directed the grin towards the Rito Champion. 

Revali jolted.

_ Ugh. _

After a moment, Link turned to look at Mipha sitting next to him, and they exchanged smiles while Zelda chirped, “Oh, good! I’m so glad you don’t mind. Mipha, Link and I will teach you some signs here and there then.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Daruk bellowed happily.

_ “How unbelievably irritating,” _ Revali had thought to himself. “ _ Now I have to go out of my way for this idiot? Ridiculous.” _


	2. Show-off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Revali's first one-on-one interaction wasn't the best. Revali expected to best Link in swordplay, and Link's awful archery skills were meant to be kept secret.

Revali, of course, had to be the best at everything. 

After Mipha, Daruk, Urbosa and him had succeeded on their trials to gain control of the Divine Beasts, the Rito champion instantly was a master at piloting Van Medoh while the others lagged behind...particularly Daruk. He was able to soar through the air on the massive bird-like machine and mockingly laugh at the others before anyone could even properly take a step forward in their machines.

Revali had to be the best at everything, and that’s why it was especially infuriating that Link kicked his ass in hand-to-hand combat.

In Rito Village, he  _ had  _ been the best, but his quick feet and evasive maneuvers weren’t enough here. The dodges that would help him win spars in Tabantha were foreseen by the knight and would only grant Revali a quick slash in the side or leg from Link’s wooden practice sword. 

Obviously, none of the hits broke skin, considering it was just made out of wood, but it did hurt a  _ ton, _ knocking the wind out of him before he was able to get himself back into another fighting stance.

It was clear that Link had been raised by the blade as Revali was being raised by the bow. He moved at the speed of light and every single move he made was calculated and perfectly coordinated. 

The avian couldn’t keep up and was getting overwhelmed.

He had only challenged Link to a spar because he got a glimpse of him practicing swordplay in Hyrule Castle’s training grounds while he was taking the opportunity to explore the castle. 

Revali had watched him, studied his movements and then made an incorrect assessment. 

The knight obviously was talented; his attacks were quick but still powerful, and he seemed to have some interesting moves up his sleeve. Despite this, the Rito was convinced he could easily smite the small knight. So, he challenged him then and there.

He had expected an easy win. He had imagined himself dodging each slash with ease and jabbing the Hylian’s gut over and over again whenever there was an opening to do so. He imagined himself successfully kicking Link to the ground, looming over him and pointing the end of the sword at his face and patronizingly cooing, “Aw, nice try, hero.”

But rather, the same thing he daydreamed about had happened to him while Link was the one who looked down at him with an innocently smug look on his face.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that!” Revali spat up at him. “If I had my bow you would be  _ much  _ worse off!”

Link shrugged as if to say,  _ yeah, probably, _ before holding his hand out to Revali to help him out of the dirt. He only got a wing slapping his hand away and a scowl in return, however.

The knight stood by as Revali lifted himself off of the ground, but annoyingly dropped the sword and rushed to his aid when Revali’s beak let out a hissing groan as he held onto his side. 

Oh no, that little knight got him good.

Link reached out for where Revali was holding himself and looked up at him. 

His big blue eyes held an intensely apologetic expression, with his eyebrows slightly furrowed and his lips just barely parted.

_ Ugh. _

The Rito stepped back and turned away from him. “I don’t need your stupid pity. I’m fine!” 

When Link rubbed his chest to say  _ sorry, _ Revali only snapped louder.

_ “I’m fine!  _ Now pick your sword back up.” With one wing motioning to Link’s sword that was left on the ground, he reached for his own with the other, which sent a sharp pain through his side. This caused him to moan out of sheer pain again and the Hylian stopped and took a step toward Revali before a wing was held up to motion him to stay away.

He stayed in a somewhat crouching position clutching his abdomen for a good few moments before standing back up as straight as he could and declaring, “Okay, I’m ready. Come at me, Hylian.”

But Link only shook his head in response.

“What? Are you scared you’re going to lose to me after I wore you out?” He forced a laugh.

The Hylian pursed his lips and lowered his brow into an annoyed expression.  

Revali grumbled, “Fine. You win. I could use a break anyway.” He proceeded to a nearby stone bench just outside the grounds and sat down. Link walked over to sit next to Revali on his right side, the side where his abdomen was hurting. Again, he angrily scoffed as Link pointed to where he was so brutishly hit while looking up to him, seemingly asking if he could at least take a look at it. “I’m  _ fine _ . Leave it alone.”

Link’s eyebrows furrowed again before he went shuffling through one of the bags he had attached to his belt. He took out a small jar full of something white and held it out to show the Rito sitting beside him. “What in Hylia’s name is that?”

The knight lightly shook the container and pointed to his partner’s side.

“Oh. So, it’s a healing potion?” Revali uttered.

Link held out his free hand and teetered it to say  _ sort of _ , before pointing to his side again and making a circular rubbing motion in the air.

“A… healing ointment then?” Revali squinted.

Link nodded his head, getting ready to take some out to use.

“No thanks. I’ll pass.”

Link snapped his neck to look at Revali with a surprised and frustrated look on his face. He looked back down to take out some of the ointment to use anyway.

“Hey! I said ‘no thanks’! Are you deaf, too?” Revali angrily squawked as Link held out his hand with a bit of the ointment on it towards his nasty bruise. The blue avian started shuffling away and shrieking, “I don’t need your charity! Hands o-” But was cut short by the sudden release from pain when Link had managed to quickly rub some on thanks to the openings in Revali’s outfit. 

He whipped his head to look at Link’s hand touching his side, and suddenly he grew hot from what he thought was rage at being touched by this Hylian’s filthy hand. 

A blue wing whacked away the lingering hand and the ave gave out an intense grimace.

Link drew his hand back, keeping a vaguely amused expression. His hands and fingers were just starting to sign when he remembered who he was talking to and stopped. Instead, he motioned to the injury again and cocked his head to the side.

Revali let out a quick growl from his throat before grunting, “Yes, it worked.” Scooting as far away as he could from Link and crossing his arms, he added, “Though don’t think that it’s acceptable to have the audacity to ever touch me.”

Link rolled his eyes.

That was when Revali suddenly had a thought. The corners of his beak that were crinkled down curled into a devilish smile and he side-eyed the Hylian sitting next to him. 

“If you’re so confident with the sword, I’d love to see how you fare with a bow and arrow.”

Link cringed just enough so it was noticeable and looked at the Rito from the corner of his eyes in return as well, but with a much different emotion behind them.

“Oh, don’t tell me the princess’ pet is bad at archery!” Revali laughed.

The blonde gritted his teeth together to add to his very faint scowl.

“Oh, dear. Did I hit a nerve? Was I right?” Revali’s laugh turned into a cackle. “I mean, there’s no way that they would appoint a knight who can’t shoot an arrow for a princess is there? Then again, you Hylians obviously have incredibly low standards if you’re their champion.” 

He saw Link’s face contort even more and heard him let out a low, angry grunt. 

The Rito responded by letting out a snicker again.

Without warning, Link gruffly got off of the stone bench to head towards the corner of the grounds where the extra weapons were held, and grabbed one of the bows available and a handful of arrows. 

Revali watched with a sharp eye and smile while Link stomped over to the archery area of the training grounds.

“Trying to prove me wrong, are we?” Revali called out.

When Link arrived at his destination, he glared at Revali over his shoulder until the Rito chuckled, leisurely rose out of his seat with an irritating sense of poise, and strolled over to where Link had gotten his bow. 

He would have preferred to use his own Great Eagle Bow, but this flimsy one would have to do.

With the Hylian still watching him as he made his way to the targets, he smirked and held out his wings in a manner that said  _ please, after you.  _ In response, Link threw his head to look forward and readied his bow to shoot ahead.

But...but everything he was doing was wrong. 

His hand position was wrong, the way he held his arms was wrong, and his legs were almost right, but still wrong. Was Link toying with him? There was no way this was real. He had only been messing with him before.

But it was. Link was visibly shaking. He clearly was regretting his small and sudden outburst as all the signs of regret and worry were shown just below his angry, furrowed look. 

After what felt like hours, the Hylian finally let go of the arrow for it to awkwardly fly through the air and hit the very edge of the target. With that stance, he was lucky it hadn’t hit the wall behind it.

Revali looked over to Link with wide green eyes before loudly stifling a laugh and snorting.

The knight’s lips pursed again as he watched a few laughs escape from Revali. 

“My apologies. I just….” he heaved a large happy sigh. “What an amazing display. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.” When his laughter finally ceased, he turned to face the targets ahead while still maintaining eye contact with Link with a smile. “Let me show you how it’s done.”

Before aiming, Revali took about twenty average sized steps behind him, though he could easily have taken much more and still succeeded. 

After years and years of perfecting his archery, there was nothing negative to point out about his stance; it was the epitome of perfection.

Readying his bow, he needed no more than a second to send his first arrow flying through the air to hit dead center of the bulls-eye. He did the same thing with three more arrows, each hitting and splintering the last. 

After looking at the target for a good moment, Link turned around to look at Revali, mouth slightly agape.

The blue avian tossed his head up with a large grin contorting his face, already forgetting the infuriating embarrassment he had felt from his earlier defeat. “Ha, yes, quite spectacular, isn’t it?” He went to put the bow in its original place and strolled back over to Link with his hands behind his back before starting again. “In Tabantha, my archery skills are unmatched not only in the present but also in the past.” He let out a soft chuckle. “And if you, a pathetic excuse for an archer, are Hyrule’s greatest warrior…” He leaned closer, barely a head away from Link’s face. “....then perhaps we really  _ are  _ doomed.”

Revali didn’t need to know sign language to know what the middle finger Link shoved in his face meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oy vey, this didn't turn out as well as I wanted. It's the first hole I had to fill between the other things I've written for this. It'll get better soon though.  
> Little fun fact, I had Revali say "I don't need your charity", because this meme was playing in the back of my head all day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iCbGoMA_PY


	3. Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revali wished that he could hate Link  
> But his disgusting smile drew him in

From the start, Revali had decided that he hated Link with every fiber of his being. Everyone knew he had an issue with him, with his high opinion of himself leading him to be offended by being a sidekick. This was shown with rude and snide remarks being thrown left and right at the poor blonde man. Although, there was a deeper and darker reasoning for his distaste of the Hylian.

Link’s presence brought out the dark insecurities that Revali had buried down. It was hard enough to batter his body black and blue to be the absolute best of the Rito, but having the one person in all of Hyrule that was better than him around was torture. Seeing Link and his sword was a constant reminder that he couldn’t beat the two together, and thus he wasn’t the perfect man he wanted to be quite yet, and he hated it.

He should’ve looked to the Hylian with respect when he saw him practicing his swordsmanship, but the extreme sense of loathing possessed him instead. The only thing that soothed his rage was the reminder that he was at least an awful archer. But even that wasn’t always enough for him.

He hated him for being the first person he fought since he was young that he couldn’t beat.

He hated him for being Hyrule’s...no… the  _ world’s _ hero.

He hated him for being well-liked by everyone around him.

He hated him, because….there wasn’t anything to actually hate about him.

  
  


As time went on, he noticed more things about Link from observation. Most of the time he appeared to be pretty emotionless, silent and stoic; but if you looked closely you could see the emotions hiding in his big sky-blue eyes. You could see a glint in his eye when something intrigued him, and a sullen look would quickly flash in the blue when he was upset. Whether it was all an act to try to play the part of the princess’ appointed knight or something else, Revali didn’t know.

Then there were the times that Link would let his guard down and accidentally let his real emotions be apparent. That’s what he had seen at Rito Village the first day they met. He would mistakenly let a smile escape him, perhaps a laugh. His smile, when it was there, was always so warm and kind.

_ It was sickening. _

 

Revali hated it, but he couldn’t help but come to terms with the fact that there truly wasn’t a thing to rightfully hate him for. His personality had the perfect blend of calm, gentle, and strong, determined, and passionate. Even though there were more pressing matters to deal with, Link always did his best to help people in need, no matter how small or large the problem was. When he fought and trained, it was hard not to marvel at his strength and agility and not to notice the passion that fueled his every move. The dirty-blonde Hylian could go from treating an injured baby bird to killing a Lynel in a matter of seconds. Revali had to admit that he truly was the kind of hero that everyone needed, that perhaps entrusting him with the master sword was the right choice. 

Though he  _ never _ was to admit it outloud.

 

With the time spent together, Revali had made observations with the others’ in the group as well. For instance, Mipha’s calm and soft exterior gave the impression that she was a doormat, but in reality she was stern at times and never took anyone’s shit. Revali learned this the hard way when she hit his head with the blunt end of her trident after he poked fun at her small height. That had left a painful bruise for some time.

Daruk wasn’t just some loud idiot like Revali had thought at first. He was everyone’s protector and defender and would willfully throw himself into harm’s way for any innocent creature. Some would call it being careless, but his skills with Boulder Breaker left no monster with the chance to harm him. His reliability was respectable.

It was already obvious that Urbosa was a powerful woman, but after spending more time with her he learned that she had a unique drive to defeat Ganon. He had heard the legends of old say that Ganon had previously taken form as a Gerudo and even used the Gerudo people as pawns once, though he never gave it much thought. But it was definitely not a secret that this fact fueled Urbosa as she felt a personal responsibility to vanquish Calamity Ganon. He saw how this affected her and he was thankful that he wouldn’t have to know the feeling of having such weight on his shoulders like Urbosa did.

It was hard not to expect Hyrule’s princess to be prim and proper, which was true only to an extent. She was polite and generous, but there was a very innocently excitable air to her. When she was pleased or excited by something you would know. Her face would shine like the sun and it was as if her body couldn’t properly contain her enthusiasm at times. That wasn’t to say that she was naive though, as she could become very thoughtful and sentimental in a blink of an eye. 

During the days he spent with the others learning more about them, Revali found himself thinking that perhaps this wouldn’t be as bad as he thought. He showed his secret contentment for being apart of the group by asking the two younger girls to teach him more sign language. They had taught him, Daruk, and Urbosa several basic signs, but Revali knew it would be better for everyone if he was more fluent in it. He played it off as wanting to be a master of everything, though the two girls knew that wasn’t the full truth.

Whenever the companions were together, Mipha and Zelda would give Revali lessons, teaching him more signs and how to properly put together sentences with them. Sometimes, unfortunately, Link would help. He was always extra patient and thoughtful during his lessons with Revali.

Every night, Revali would practice what he had learned; going through the motions and burning the movements and their meanings into his brain. He didn’t know it at the time, but what had fueled him to try his best to learn this strange new language was the hidden respect he had for the hero he claimed to hate.

\----

 

Princess Zelda had decided she wanted to take a trip to the Akkala region where an excavation was beginning after a small group of guardian scouts had miraculously been discovered underground. Of course, if she were to go, her appointed knight, Link, also had to follow. However, the area recently had a surplus of Bokoblin and Moblin activity, so King Rhoam was reluctant to let her go without assigning more protection to go along with her. To appease her father, Zelda tried to invite the other Champions in hopes to strengthen connections with them. Unfortunately, Urbosa, Daruk, and Mipha all had things in their own lands to attend to so they couldn’t join the Hylians; although, Revali was quite free.

Now, Revali would have declined the invitation- he didn’t want to be a groupie with the Hylians for a simple  _ errand _ . In spite of that, the Rito elder forced him to accept and scolded him for not making an effort in having a good relationship with the princess of Hyrule as well as the other Champions. Revali knew he was right, but that didn’t make him any less annoyed in having to do something so pointless.

Revali had been asked to meet the two at the castle with his gear and supplies, so after Revali met up with them and Zelda promised her dad to practice praying at the Spring of Power (so that he wouldn’t think the trip was a  _ complete _ waste of time), the Hylians readied their horses and they were off; Revali taking to the skies right above them to watch for enemies from a bird’s eye view...and to avoid any unnecessary conversation.

 

During the trip, the blue avian was  incredibly annoyed by the slow rate the ones below him were going. They kept their horses at a leisurely walk, not even a  _ trot _ , the entire time. This was especially frustrating because Revali had to keep at such an irritatingly slow pace, and if he wasn’t careful and went a little too fast he had to stop and wait for those slow pokes to catch up. Why were they going so slow? If they would just hurry up this trivial trip would end sooner and he could go back home!

When he did look down to shoot a glare or grimace they couldn’t see, he saw that they were always caught up in conversation. Link’s hands were moving too quickly and complicated for Revali to understand, and Zelda’s face totally focused on him and promptly replied to his hands. He was just out of ear-shot from Zelda and couldn’t help but be curious as to what they were going on about. Probably something irrelevant. Was what they were talking about so important to make them go this painfully slow?

 

They had been traveling for a few hours- too many hours for their short distance in Revali’s opinion- when the sun had begun to set. Zelda sweetly called up to Revali, “Revali, I think we should set up camp soon! Would you mind finding a good spot to camp up ahead for us?” 

A bit vexed, but trying to keep it out of his voice, he replied, “sure thing” before flying up ahead, finally able to go faster. It didn’t take him long to find a clearing with a large tree by the road about two miles ahead, so he returned to the Hylians to report back and lead them to the place he had found.

Underneath the tree, they set up their camp for the night. Link started a campfire in the center of the small clearing with some flint, Zelda took the heavy bags and saddles off of the horses and tied the harnesses to a branch of the large tree, and Revali so graciously made beds for the three of them with the materials the Hylians brought. 

When everything was set up, Zelda went into one of the bags she had taken off of her horse Storm and took out two pouches with dried meat and pieces of fruit inside. She handed a serving to Link who was sitting next to her on the log they shared, and then another serving to Revali. “Thank you for making the beds, Revali.” She amiably said to him.

“You’re welcome.” He simply uttered while taking the food for her hands. 

After Zelda held some pleasant eye contact with him and smiled, she went back to getting a serving for herself and faced Link to converse more with him. As he ate, Revali regarded them chatting with a blank expression; even though he was finally within earshot of them, he wasn’t paying any attention to what the princess had been saying. He was watching Link closely, able to catch a couple of signs he quickly made with his hands, but nothing more. He looked at Link’s face, watching his face shift through different emotions as they talked- the bright smiles he flashed the princess shining brightly.

Afraid of his gaze being noticed, he looked towards the fire that was in between him and the two Hylians and continued to eat.

_ They were really close, weren’t they? _

  
  


Revali  took out his journal and a pencil from the knapsack he brought along with him to complain about how this treacherously boring day surely was going to be the same tomorrow. The campfire next to the stump he was sitting on was giving him just enough light to properly write. A few feet away to his left, the princess was drifting to sleep in her makeshift bed, and a few feet away from him on the other side was Link tending to the horses.

Suddenly his writing was interrupted when Link loudly cleared his throat at an attempt to get Revali’s attention, to which he replied by slowly looking up in his direction with a raised eyebrow. Link responded by motioning  _ come _ . The Rito scoffed.

“Why? I’m quite comfortable right here.” 

The Hylian Champion rolled his eyes and put a fist on his other hand’s open palm and lifted the two hands up. Revali recognized that as  _ help. _ Then a hand went to the side of his face where his pointer and middle finger moved up and down.  _ Horse. _

Revali looked back down at the journal in his hands before retorting, “no thanks. I’m busy.” He whipped his head back to face Link when the other let of a mixture of a laugh and a scoff. 

Link made the sign for  _ fine  _ as he turned around to face the horses and then made another quick sign that Revali didn’t know at the time. Looking back, it was unmistakably the sign for  _ asshole. _

 

Revali was scribbling about how this was a waste of his precious time when he could be training back at his beautiful flight range when he heard Link stifle a soft, quiet giggle. He cocked his head just enough to see the Hylian unsuccessfully trying to brush his brown steed’s mane as the gentle beast kept twisting its neck to lovingly nudge him with its snout to show affection. Link kept pushing the snout away, but it would turn right back to shower its owner with slobbery horse kisses. With each push, he let out a sickening giggle.

Finally when he had gotten his animal to behave, Revali asked, “you really like horses don’t you?” Even though the stupid knight irked him, he decided to try and make conversation- the Rito elder’s recent scoldings influenced him into doing so.

Link, while brushing his horse’s hair, twisted his abdomen towards the archer to look at him and nod.

“What do you like about them? I’ve never liked the things.” The archer waited for the knight to quickly finish brushing his horse’s hair so his hands would be free to sign.

“ _ Kind. Gentle.” _

Revali needed a few moments to process the signs before responding. “Ah. That’s funny. In my experience they’re anything but. Just a bunch of smelly morons if you ask me.”

Link’s face squinted into a sort of offended expression. He motioned to the two horses and signed  _ come _ again and something else that Revali hadn’t seen before.

“What was that?” Revali asked.

The Hylian spelled out the word  _ chance  _ with his hands, to which the Rito cocked his head in curiosity.  _ Chance? What does he mean by that?  _ He thought for a few moments before realizing what his companion was trying to say.

“Give them a chance? Is that what you’re saying?” When Link, pleased that Revali understood what he met, nodded, Revali continued. “No way. I don’t want to get bit by one of those ugly things.” 

Link made a quick laugh.

“What?” Revali squawked.

Link slowly, possibly even patronizingly, signed  _ scared? _

Baffled by the insult, the avian almost shrieked. “No, I am not  _ scared! _ I just don’t want to be near one of those foul-smelling creatures!” He turned his head back to the book in his hands when he felt eyes staring at him. In defeat, he looked back to see Link looking at him with a sickeningly smug look on his face. “ _ What?!”  _ Link’s lips curled into a wider grin as his eyebrows raised up. “Why you- I’m not scared!” He briskly shot up from his seat and tossed his journal and pencil to the ground, angrily making his way towards the Hylian and his ugly friends. “The famously brave Revali frightened by horses? As if!” 

Link held out the horse brush and motioned towards Zelda’s snow-white horse. Revali snatched the brush out of the Hylian’s hand and stood in front of Storm. He was closer in size to the horse than Link was, but he still felt slightly nervous as he never had really been that close to a horse in a very long time. “Um...are...are you sure it’s alright if I groom the princess’ horse? It  _ is  _ a royal horse after all…..” 

To respond, the princess’ appointed knight laughed again, and nodded. 

Revali stared at Storm for a long while, who just looked back at him curiously. He tried his best to keep his small fear of horses from being obvious, but the quake in his wing as he reached out to cautiously groom the horse was easily noticeable.

 

Revali, remembering this moment with Link while on Vah Medoh, couldn't help but instantly recall the event from his childhood that caused him to have a ridiculous and irrational fear of horses.

He was still a hatchling when the Rito elder and another older Rito brought him and the other young children to the stables nearby the village for a small field trip. The hatchlings, including him, were excited to see a horse up close as none of them really had before.

One of the stable’s workers smiled at the bunch and gave each of them a treat to feed to a horse of their choosing. 

Revali distinctly remembered the horse he had chosen to give his piece of apple to. The steed was the largest and also seemed to be the strongest. He had been drawn to the strong air of the horse, as well as how its platinum blonde mane glistened in the afternoon sun. Revali was shaking with excitement as he fluttered a few feet in the air to step and grip onto the top rung of the fence of the enclosure, and extended out a tiny wing to offer the horse a snack.

The treacherous creature betrayed his innocence and trust, and instead of taking the offering, it dug its teeth into the poor child’s wing. Revali hadn’t seen that much blood before, especially coming out from his own body. He had felt no pain, possibly from shock, though the squirting crimson was what had traumatized him. The next hour had been a blur of him screaming and crying, and the adult Rito rushing him back to the village to bandage him. 

It was a horrifying experience to him and it was even worse because he couldn’t practice flying for a few days or else the wound would open right back up. Even though the wound was treated properly and left to heal, the Rito still had a small scar underneath his navy feathers that served as a reminder to never trust a horse. 

Ever since then, Revali sheepishly kept his distance from horses, so he hadn’t been this close to one in many years before Link reeled him to one through sheer mockery.  

The horse that hurt and scarred him all those years ago had the exact same hair color as Storm did.  _ Oh dear, why did he start something he couldn’t finish? _

 

It took several agonizing moments before Revali quickly shot out his hand to the horse’s mane; he had half-expected the creature to twist and bite his wing like what happened so long ago, but instead it quizzically watched him. With one stroke of the brush, he instantly spun around to face Link to hand him back the brush and grunted, his voice shaking just slightly, “there. I gave it a chance. Happy?”   
Link looked at him with one eyebrow raised, another patronizing look written all over his dumb face. Then he shook his head while his lips curled into another ugly smile.

“Oh whatever! This is ridiculous.” Revali began to turn to return back to his spot by the fire, but he caught Link signing  _ scared  _ again from the corner of his eye. He bitterly warbled, “I am  _ not! _ ” Stomping back to his place on the stump, he continued. “I just don’t want to, okay?”

Link snickered from a few feet away.

“Oh, don’t you get so cocky. At least I don’t reak of horse ass.” He picked his journal and pencil back up from the ground to return to scribbling out his irritations on paper.

Link responded with a grunt before going back to the horses.

 

He was writing about how terrible Link was when he made the mistake of looking back over to him. The knight was offering them both an apple before feeding them their actual meal of oats.

For whatever ridiculous reason, Link truly did love horses. It was clear from how his sky-blue eyes and his usually stiff posture softened while he took care of them….as well as the way his lips produced a small, but incredibly warm, smile. He truly looked happy when in company of equines...it honestly was heartwarming to see such a powerful man with immense responsibilities so at peace.

_ Ugh. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote this chapter with a memory i was originally going to add later because i realized it would have made more sense here. The original scene is going to return later though! In either the next chapter or the one after that!  
> Sorry this chapter was so bad before jsadghksahdgkahkagjdsh  
> that's what i get for jumping in without properly planning!!!!


	4. Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three arrive at the excavation site.  
> Revali, the amazing archer he is, so graciously saves Link's life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't read the last chapter super recently, you should know that I rewrote the last half! What I had before didn't fit so I changed it up. Make sure you read it or else this part won't make as much sense.  
> (the chapter name is a wip dsthsajdghkaghkajakdjgh i'm so bad at naming chapters whoops)

Most of the trip afterwards went without a hitch. They had all rose with the sun and got their things together and left the clearing as soon as they could so they for sure could get there before dusk. Again, Revali flew over the two Hylians on horseback, although they weren’t going slow like last time; they finally were going more of a trot and so Revali had no issue matching their speed.

They arrived at the excavation site late afternoon. Zelda made her presence known and met with a Sheikah excavator she must have recognized. He was the head of the excavation and was a middle-aged Sheikah man, wrinkles just beginning to plague his fair skin. Toma, what the princess had addressed him as, led them to a small camp in the corner of the site for them to set their things down, tie up their horses, and rest from their traveling that day.

Zelda was _dying_ to see what they had found so far and hoping to learn more about the ancient technology, but Toma convinced her to rest for at least a few minutes and offered to make some tea for her and her companions. She reluctantly accepted the offer and so the three sat down to rest while Toma left them to go to his tent to prepare the tea.

Revali had been stretching his wings when some atrocious wailing was heard nearby. The small group both looked for the source of the annoying sound to find a small Sheikah boy crying by himself at the edge of the site. The Rito rolled his eyes and continued his stretching, when the other two got up to investigate the wailing child.

While Zelda approached with Link close behind, she calmly cooed to the boy, “you’re Gihei, Toma’s son, aren’t you?” She crouched down just enough so she would be face to face with the kid.

Hearing her voice through his own crying, he quickly wiped away his tears and the snot gooping out from his nostrils. He tried to refrain from letting out another pathetic sob before stammering, “y-yes, miss.”

Zelda softly chuckled. “There’s no need to hide your tears. It’s alright.” She wiped away a loose tear from Gihei’s cheek. “What’s troubling you?”

Gihei held back another sob before finally managing, “m-my dog, miss. I can’t find him. I’ve been looking for hours and I was too afraid to ask anyone for help- everyone is so busy. But if I don’t find him before nightfall, he could get hurt.” He looked down, ashamed of crying over something so unimportant compared to excavations going on around him.

“We aren’t busy. We are happy to help.” Zelda looked behind her at Link. “Right, Link?”

Link responded with a nod and a friendly smile.

Gihei jolted, making a realization. “L-Link? But i-if….if you’re Link….doesn’t that make you…” His eyes widened before he scrambled to the floor to get on his knees and bow his head. “P-Princess Zelda! I’m so sorry for you having to see me cry! You don’t have to help! I can find him myself!”

Zelda nearly gasped out of surprise at his sudden bow. “No, no, no! Don’t you worry about that! It’s fine, I promise!” Link softly chuckled behind her as she looked at him with a worried expression. She turned back to face Gihei and laid a hand on his small shoulder. “You don’t have to bow. It’s alright. We aren’t doing anything right now anyway. We are happy to help.”

The Sheikah boy hesitantly stood up out of the dirt and looked down at his feet. “Th-Thank you, Your Highness.”

She smiled. “You’re welcome. Now what was your dog’s name?”

“Sid.” Gihei said with a sniffle.

“Sid. What a nice name. Did you give it to him?”

“Y-Yes, Your Highness.”

“Now, now, you can just call me Zelda.”

“...Z..” Gihei looked up from his feet to look at the princess who looked him kindly. “Zelda.”

Zelda softly nodded before standing up. “We can look for Sid together around the site, alright? Link can look in the forest nearby to see if he scampered away in there.” She extended a hand out to the small boy, who in turn reached out with a wavering hand to hold hers.

Zelda looked over to her knight and they exchanged nods. Link went back to the bags to retrieve his sword, just in case, and cut through the camp to go into the dense forest on the other side. Revali looked up at him just in time to see Link eyeing him as he walked past. His eyes asked him to accompany him, that was clear, but Revali ignored him. The blue eyes flashed a look of disappointment as he carried on into the forest.

Without even thinking, Revali called out to him when he was just in the treeline. “This isn’t your problem, you know. You should just leave it to his parents.” The Rito twisted to look behind him at the Hylian who came to a stop.

Link stopped, turned his head just enough to look at Revali, cracked a small grin and shrugged before turning again into the woods.

Revali scoffed and shook his head. He pulled out a book from his knapsack and proceeded to read a book to pass the time while those fools were helping some snotty child.

 

Some time had passed when Revali heard someone approach. He looked up to see Toma walking towards him holding a tray that held a teapot and three smaller cups.

“Ah, Revali isn’t it? I apologize for taking a while to brew...some things had come up.” The Sheikah man looked around before asking, “where have the princess and Link gone off to?”

Revali rudely looked back to his book as he replied. “Who knows for sure? Your son caught the princess’ attention with his crying over his lost dog. Zelda and Link went to go help him find it.”

Toma heavily sighed and sat down on the seat next to Revali to lay the tray on the ground. He held onto the bridge of his large nose and huffed again. “That boy...perhaps it was a mistake to bring him along. How could he bother the princess like that?”

“Don’t worry. The two of them seemed incredibly happy to help. I’m sure they’ll be back soo-” Revali was cut off by two loud yelps coming from the forest- one clearly belonging to a dog and the other…... _was unmistakably Link’s._

“Oh no...” Toma exclaimed while Revali rushed to grab his bow and his quiver.

“I’m sure it’s fine. Just stay here, and if we aren’t back soon…” Revali gritted his beak, hating the fact that he was saying this. “....send someone.” With that, he flapped his massive wings and flew into the air, tossing around Toma’s hair and clothes.

Revali soared over the trees until he saw a flash of blonde from underneath the canopy. He went to swoop down to Link before he heard the earth-quaking stomps of something that was in pursuit. His eyes focused and he registered what it was.

A Hinox.

_What the hell, Link?_

He flew through the tops of the trees, leaves and branches mercilessly scratching and whipping at his face. He found Link, holding a terrified dog in his arms while he was sprinting as fast as he could away from a colossal red Hinox. For Hylia’s sake he looked like a dumb cucco being chased by a fox. This was stupidly pathetic.

He glided above Link, and called out to him, “what the hell did you do?”

Link, who was sweating profusely, looked up at Revali with his sky blue eyes dialated. He opened his mouth, maybe to finally say something, but all that ended up coming out was a quick frightened shout.

Revali couldn’t help but cackle. “This is incredible! The Hero of Legend running away from from a monster...at my mercy!” He reached for the bow on his back. “Now watch the _real_ hero.”

The Rito twisted in the air to face the massive monster that was chasing them, and it took no time at all for an arrow to wiz through the air and into the big yellow eye. “You focus on scampering away, little Hylian! I can handle this.” The Hinox dropped to the ground, writhing around in pain, and Revali took the chance to rapidly shoot arrows at the exposed weak spots. When he got back on its feet, the Hinox bettered its strategy by covering its eye as it pursued. But with precision, the archer could easily shoot in between the fat fingers.

The creature was nearing its end when it suddenly moved faster than a Hinox was suppose to. It quickly reached out for a tree to use as a throwing weapon. Revali had been careless and missed his chance to hit it and hinder it from tearing the trunk out of the ground with a strange sense of speed. With his quick thinking and sharp eyes, he saw that the Hinox was aiming for the fleeing Hylian behind him- not its attacker. And he deduced that there was a small chance of stopping the creature in time before it threw the log...he realized that the best option was to save Link himself, who was totally unaware of what was happening behind him.

“Link!” He shrieked, speeding through the air into the Hylian below. It was too close of a call; just as he made contact with Link and knocked him down, the tree was thrown right above them. So close that it brushed the top of Revali’s crest.

Successfully, the Rito had knocked Link and the dog in his arms to the ground, and Revali’s high velocity caused the three bodies to skid on the ground for a good distance. When their tumbling had stopped, Sid had safely landed several inches away, but Revali had landed on top of Link with their chests touching. The avian lifted himself off of the man below him just enough so his fierce green eyes could look straight into the frightened blue ones as he scolded, “You idiot! When I said focus on scampering away I didn’t mean it _literally_! Why weren’t you paying attention?!”

Link’s ears and cheeks began to glow a deep red as he blankly stared up at Revali. Probably from shame, Revali had thought at the time. He too would’ve turned red with shame if he realized that he was behaving like a huge moron. Though why did he feel his skin turn red as well?

Revali would have loved to keep yelling at the Hylian beneath him, but the loud steps of the Hinox were still drawing nearer. The blue Rito tried to pick himself up, but a pain shot through his right wing. He couldn’t believe this...why did Hylia have to give him such bad luck? Link couldn’t see him injured again!

Link slid away to get up, and somehow Revali managed to do the same. “Sorry to say, but it looks like I didn’t land quite right. Now I suppose it’s my turn to see you in action.” He grumbled as his free wing held onto his injured one.

With a slight worried expression, Link nodded and unsheathed his sword.

It was over quick- the knight ran towards the Hinox, easily dodged all the attacks, and sliced at the monster’s heels. Down it fell, and so the killing strikes were done with ease. Link just had to slash and jab at the Hinox’s side a few times until it disintegrated into black and purple smoke.

With the threat gone, Revali was able to look at the dog called Sid and noticed that it, too, was injured. He hoped that his graceful attempt at rescue wasn’t the cause.

After sheathing his sword, Link ran back to the Rito and dog he left behind. He started to go to Revali first, who raised a hand to stop him. “I’m fine. You should worry about the mutt though.”

The Hylian nodded and went to the dog on the ground instead. Sid whined as Link scooped him up, but settled down when his head got a nice pat.

“His leg is hurt. Was it already like that?” Revali asked.

Link nodded again before starting to walk back to the site.

_That was a relief._

 

As soon as they got back into the excavation site, the two of them could hear Zelda calling out to them along with the cries of Gihei. The Sheikah boy got to them first, making a beeline to Link for his dog. Sid smiled wide as dogs do at the sight of his owner and his tail whacked hard against Link’s chest. Sid lapped at his kid’s face and Gihei just giggled and hugged his friend.

“Be careful. Sid’s leg seems to sprained or broken.” Revali flatly stated to the child.

The child looked over at the Rito with a pained expression before returning back to his dog to cry out, “Oh, Sid! What have you gotten yourself into this time?”

“What happened?” Zelda asked Link, who had to put the dog down to reply. Sid simply kept one leg up off the ground while he showered Gihei with his love.

Later it had been explained to Revali what had happened. Apparently, Link had heard yelping from further in the forest. He followed it to find Sid stuck in a ditch with a large rock on his leg. Link had carelessly ran to the dog to help it out without surveying the area first. A Hinox must’ve been sleeping nearby, because it came tearing through the forest at an alarming pace after he had made perhaps too much noise getting Sid out of the hole. Caught off guard, Link grabbed the dog and made a break for it instead of calming down and standing his ground. Soon after Revali had swooped down to help.

Zelda laughed at what Link was telling her as he sheepishly smiled. “You have to be more careful, Link. Hyrule can’t lose a hero over a dog.”

After filling himself up with Sid’s love and kisses, Gihei went to stand in front of Link to thank him. “Thank you very much, Link sir.” He slightly bowed to the knight before him to show his respect and gratitude. “I don’t know how I can ever thank you.”

“You can thank him by keeping a closer eye on your dog.” Revali blurted. “So that maybe no one else wi- ow!” Link jabbed Revali’s injured arm with his elbow to stop him from finishing his sentence.

The knight ignored the Rito to look down at the Sheikah boy with a massive smile. He shook his head to say there was no need for thanks. Gihei returned the smile with a big, toothy grin.

“I...I want to be a brave warrior like you one day!” Gihei excitedly said.

 _Pfft. Kid, your hero was running away like a scared Cucco. It’s me you should be thanking._ Revali had thought to himself.

Link’s smile widened. He looked to Zelda to sign something.

“He says that you would make a fine warrior, Gihei. As long as you stay out of trouble.” Zelda cooed as she again put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. Gihei looked up at the princess, beaming.

Revali looked to the side and let out a _tch._

 

Soon after, Toma had found them and after asking if the two Champions were alright, he scolded his son for rolling the Champions into his own problems. Toma ushered Revali to the site’s medic who told him that his wing just needed some rest for two days or so. How irritating.

 

The rest of the day was plain and boring. Zelda ran off somewhere in the site to help with the excavation, Link disappeared somewhere to practice his swordsmanship, and Revali was left with nothing to do but to read. Eventually the sun fell and they went to sleep, and the three repeated the same thing the next day so Zelda could get her fill on the excavations.

 

The third day they woke up early so they could visit the Spring of Power before making their way back to Hyrule Castle. The Sheikah graciously gave the three some more food to take with them on their journey, so they packed their things and set off for the path to the spring.

Revali’s wing was still sore so he couldn’t fly and of course he insisted on walking. He lagged behind the Hylians on their horses even when they had the mounts walk as slowly as they could. He found himself constantly apologizing for his slow pace, until Link stopped his horse.

Link twisted to look at Revali and to pat the extra space on the saddle behind him.

Revali cringed. “No! I’m not going to ride that thing! Especially with _you!_ ”

Link pursed his lips and smacked the back of his saddle harder.

“No thanks!”

Link angrily signed what Revali could translate as “ _come up!”_ with a scowl on his face. Revali shook his head like a toddler when Link tried again, but softer. “ _Don’t be scared.”_

The avian looked at Link, whose face was genuine and showed no ill will. His blue eyes looked at him softly.

Revali threw his hands up in the air in utter defeat. “Fine! Fine. Have it your way.” He made his way to the brown horse as he heard Zelda hold back a laugh. He stared at the horse with a twisted look on his face until Link reached out a hand. Revali took the hand, and Link helped him up onto the horse.

It took some effort to finally get on the saddle correctly, but when he did it still felt awkward. Revali never had been on a horse before and it just felt….strange.  
When they started actually moving, however, did it _really_ feel strange. The bumps and jostles that came with the horse’s steps were foreign and he did not like it at all.

He must’ve had his distaste for the ride written on his face, because Zelda said in a slightly condescending tone, “Link said it’s alright to hold onto him if you need to.” Link whirled his head to look at Zelda and glare. She just smirked back.

“I- I don’t need to. It’s fine.” The avian said with an irritated inflection in his voice. But when the horses started down a hill, he felt unsteady and grabbed Link’s sides without thinking.

He cursed himself as he felt himself grow hot, from what he thought was a mixture of rage and embarrassment. He couldn’t believe he just _touched_ Link so casually like that.

Revali looked to the back of Link’s head, and he swore that he saw his ears turning red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **t-poses**  
> yikes  
> I wrote a lot of this when I was half asleep so it ain't the best whoops  
> edit: god damn when i was writing this I forgot what I wanted them to fight. Now I remembered it was a frEAKING scOUT guaRDIAN that somEhoW caME TO LIFE AND that's why they were THERE in the FIRST PLACE  
> but I'm not gonna rewrite it I already redid the last chapter!!! Urrrgh!!!


	5. Sunset, Sunlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revali wanted to hate Link more than anything, but he started to really feel his feelings change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is p sloppy cuz it's just two scenes I wrote a while ago glued together  
> but eh!! I just wanna get to the stuff I've been excited to write, my dudes ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿  
> lol maybe one day I'll get better at chapter names

Revali can, regrettably, recall the day that his hidden feelings for Link became more apparent to him.  It wasn't any more than a couple of months after the Champions and princess first banded together, so everyone was still getting to know each other better and strengthening their relationships. But at this point,  _ everyone  _ knew what kind of person Revali was. Rude. Dramatic. Patronizing. Painfully full of himself.

 

The  Champions were in the Tabantha region for some Champion business. When they found some free time, Zelda, knowing full well of the level of Link’s archery abilities, had asked Revali if he would take Link to his Flight Range to practice his archery and paragliding skills. Reluctantly, the Rito accepted. After all, if Link continued to be terrible it would only hold him back. 

Although in the end he wasn’t helpful at all, because instead of assisting the Hylian, he watched him squirm while he himself practiced. Sometimes though, he noticed Link finally do something correctly. Whenever he noticed this, he would open his beak to begin a compliment, but hastily closed it shut before anything were to slip out. 

He couldn’t let Link think he didn’t actually hate him.

During training, Link had finally hit a target in the center circle, not very close to the actual bulls-eye though. He never had been able to do it while in the air, let alone the ground. He obviously was just very lucky.

Link gasped out of surprise and delight, and looked over to Revali with his eyes and mouth wide open in an expression of utter glee and bewilderment. The Rito began to open his beak for a compliment to roll out, surprisingly on purpose this time, but after processing the look on Link’s face, he changed his mind. The Hylian’s face was so bright and warm that it was nearly blinding. His big blue eyes shone with pride...and…well....it was  _ disgustingly adorable.  _ This made Revali’s face grow hot, which he foolishly translated into annoyance.

The avian raised his eyebrows and patronizingly cooed, “Oh, good one.” Before flinging out his bow to promptly shoot four arrows, the first splitting Link’s arrow after cutting through the air and the others following suit with repetitive  _ chk _ sounds. He chuckled, whipping his head to toss his braids, and said, “maybe you will be as great as I one day, little Hylian.” 

Link’s eyebrows furrowed, crinkling the face that was so happy and bright only seconds ago. He couldn’t believe Revali just pulled that on him for the second time.

At this point Revali could understand plenty of sign language if done slow enough for him to process, so using the paraglider, Link glided over to the landing so he could use his hands to sign. “ _ A sincere compliment would be nice once and a while.”  _ One could tell by the jerky way that Link signed that he was frustrated or even mad.

Revali flew over to the landing, standing so he was face to face with Link. He smiled, cocked his head, mockingly rolled his eyes and said, “Aw, did I offend the little Hylian?” After he said this, he could see the Hylian face scrunch up more, ever so slightly. Perhaps his mockery wasn’t needed, but what was he to do instead?  _ Compliment  _ that stupid face of his for his little achievement? Ridiculous.

Ignoring Link’s angry face, the Rito turned and walked further into the small wooden tower, saying behind him, “Anyway, it’s about high time that we have a break. I’m starting to get famished.”  He went over to the corner of the tower to open up the cupboards that were there for storage. “Would you be kind enough to start a fire for me there? I brought some fish with me and I believe I have some extra salt and spices here somewhere...” Revali took the approaching footsteps as a “yes”, and continued his search. 

 

After the fish were cooked, the two decided to eat on the top of the roof rather than the landing, so they could at least have a better view of the surrounding landscape to enjoy while eating. After all, it was a surprisingly nice day, with the snow that usually created blizzards delicately floating down from the clouds. The sun was beginning to set, painting the snow, rocks, and white-covered pine trees with beautiful colors of orange, red and pink. Revali turned to look at Link to say something, but he stopped when he laid eyes on him. 

Revali never thought of the Hylian as being ugly to be honest, and he never thought of him being handsome before either. But, it was at that moment when the light hit him perfectly, the warm colors bringing out the bright blue of his eyes, and the sun highlighting all the right parts of his face, did the Rito actually realize how gorgeous this man was. He tried to push that sudden impudent thought, but it didn’t stop his weak heart from skipping a beat. Link was busy watching something off in the distance, so Revali found himself studying Link for far too long.

He was only ripped out of his trance when Link turned to Revali, possibly to sign something, but stopped when he saw that he was already being looked at. Curiously, he signed, “ _what is it?_ ”  
Revali was flustered and embarrassed, but kept it down with a cough before he cooly replied, “Ah, apologies. It was nothing.” He turned his head back towards the snowy open fields, and after a few moments, looked at Link, who had already turned to face ahead, from the corner of his eye. The sun was still illuminating Link, continuing to make him look stunning. Afraid of being caught again, his eyes quickly shifted to look in front of him. For the very first time, Revali and Link shared a quiet, pleasant moment alone together.

_ It was terrible. _

 

\---

 

After that evening Revali had found himself in a downward spiral. Around this time he, unfortunately, was finding himself beginning to enjoy the times he shared with the group. During the earlier moments they had together when they traveled, Revali would usually fly overhead (he always said it was to scout for any nearby foes, but in reality it was so he could have time away from their “tomfoolery”). But now he suddenly found himself flying close by, sometimes even walking with them, enjoying their company. He didn’t particularly participate much in conversations aside from sneaking in snide remarks and corrections, but he did secretly relish in the others conversing.

It was easier to get used to the personalities and air of the three women, but the hardest for him to get used to was Daruk. Daruk’s hearty laughter and attempts at jokes used to be exasperating to the Rito, but he ended up finding the charm in it. Even when they were talking about anything serious and dark, he still managed to keep the air from becoming  _ too  _ dark and depressing. That’s just who he was. 

Although....it might have only become endearing because his ebullient actions would give Revali more chances at seeing Link’s smile glow again. It seemed that humor and horses were the two things that especially made his stoic ego break, and Daruk certainly had enough humor to go around. The Rito would only roll his eyes at the Goron’s pathetic excuses for jokes or groan if they were bad enough, but it never did fail to make Link smile...or laugh if he was lucky.

His laughs were always so light and bubbly- they never did fit his rough exterior and stoic act of a serious knight.  Watching his eyes slowly begin to crinkle and his lips slowly unfold into a smile before letting go and allowing the laugh to fall out and explode into a guffaw...that was utter bliss to Revali and it made him want to curl the edges of his beak into a smile as well.  He caught himself starting to hope that he could make Link do that one day. 

 

\---

 

Revali always had a thing for people purposefully touching him, especially idiots. He despised group hugs- and when someone opened up their arms offering a hug, he would either ignore them or warily allow them to embrace him. Any sort of unnecessary contact would make him uncomfortable, and in turn, infuriate him. Any slaps on the back...any shoulder touching…or any side hugs. After Revali’s frightening reaction to Daruk pushing them all together for the photo with the Sheikah Slate some time ago, Daruk smartly made the decision to never try anything like that with Revali again. Which was no surprise considering he almost got his eyes pecked out.

So why was it, he had wondered, did he not get upset and rather felt so happy when Link touched him?

If Revali recalled correctly, it was the morning that Mipha insisted on making breakfast for everyone. She had felt guilty that her good friend took care of all their horses  _ and  _ cooked the meals when they were traveling from place to place. 

Clearly she had no idea what she was doing and was throwing random things that she was convinced would go well together into the lit pot. Everyone watched closely- except Zelda who was off to the side doing something else- taking note of the strange combination of ingredients. Had she seriously thrown in a lizard in? That must’ve been a trick of the light.

When she thought it was done, she lifted up the spoon she had been using to stir, and smelled it. She took a little sip, and smiled at what she must have thought was a success. Mipha then turned to Zelda with spoon in hand, and asked, “Princess, what do you think?” 

Zelda hadn't been watching so she didn’t know what she was getting herself into when she took a couple of steps closer to the short Zora girl. She leaned over slightly for Mipha to put the spoon in her mouth. The Hylian princess gave Mipha a soft smile as she stood back up after taking a large sip, but when she did her face changed. Her face contorted into a crumpled up mess and it was very obvious that she wanted to spit whatever Mipha put in her mouth back out. Instead, trying be kind and courteous, she swallowed, very loudly and hard, and shivered. 

After a few seconds of everyone staring at her waiting for a response, she weakly muttered through teeth, “that was very delicious, Mipha.” 

Urbosa curled into herself while Daruk threw his head back and they both laughed. Daruk seemingly quaked the ground with his guttural explosions of sound while Urbosa shivered trying and failing to limit her laughter to mere chortles. 

“I guess it’s true…” Urbosa started, doubling over.

Daruk somehow was able to turn to her with a limp finger pointing. “...fish must not have taste buds!” He finished for her in a bellow before they collapsed into each other; Daruk wrapping his arm around Urbosa while she could only put a hand on his massive shoulder.

Revali crossed his wings and softly chuckled. In the past he would have furrowed his brow and scoffed at the group’s typical tomfoolery, but those days of ceaseless brooding were over. It certainly was funny to see Zelda’s face contort in a way he didn’t think was possible, but Urbosa’s and Daruk’s reaction was what was really entertaining about it. 

Then Link, who happened to be standing next to Revali, was a heaping mess of cackles and giggles, the sort of laughter that throws you off balance. While Link was stumbling around laughing- he grabbed onto Revali’s feathered arm to gain back his balance. 

Instantly, there was a  _ zing _ that shot through Revali’s body. He had felt his skin turn red, which luckily was covered by feathers that were just barely poofing up. When he looked down at Link in a mixture of surprise, joy and horror, he saw that beautiful face of his looking ahead bursting at the seams with laughter. His eyes were closed tightly, and his mouth wide open with such sweet sounds of glee escaping. It was so cute so say the least. Why was he even laughing that hard? It wasn’t that funny.

Revali didn’t even realize he was smiling and chuckling until he already started and couldn’t stop. But he wasn’t looking at the two girls who caused the ruckus, or even the two older champions who were laughing it up; he was adoringly gazing at the darling man who hung onto him doubling in laughter. 

Mipha was insisting that the princess tell her what she really thought of the concoction she had created, while Zelda tried to insist her that it really  _ had _ been delicious. The Gerudo and Goron were occupied with the hilarity of the scene, and Link was in a state of disrepair. He had never been more thankful in his entire life than he was at the moment, knowing that nobody would have seen him smiling at Link...in a way that now, a hundred years later, he could admittedly describe as “loving”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: fish apparently DO have taste buds and they can distinguish different flavors just like we can. although their taste buds are not only on their tongue and in their mouth, but also on the outside of their body. gross  
> mipha just has no taste whatsoever i guess lmao  
> after this i won't write about Link's smile and laugh so excessively jdghksadjghkjsdghkja


	6. Stars and Variables

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revali recalls a sweet moment in childhood.  
> He also recalls an interesting conversation with the princess of Hyrule herself.

From atop Vah Medoh, Revali looks up at the night sky above. The same sky he’s stared at for a hundred years in death, and many years in life,  stretching far into horizon; it is a deep navy blue that sometimes seemed black, similar to his own feathers. Bright stars dot the skies and twinkle, aiding in lighting the horizon along with the massive moon high up overhead.

Upon looking up at this view, he recalls the times he would look up at the same sky as a hatchling. His feathers that matched the night sky were fluffy then, mostly being down, and his markings along with his rotten attitude hadn’t developed yet. Back then he was happy-go-lucky and excited to live in the world and to wake up everyday to learn more about it. His green eyes were still bright with an innocent sense of delight and enthusiasm before they instead fiercely glowed with a dark sense of pride.

He recalls a certain moment of his childhood where he climbed and fluttered up the tall, towering rock that his village was built on so he could lay on his back and gaze at the endless sea of stars above. He remembered his own tiny, useless wing reaching out as if to try and touch the balls of gas that were so very far away. 

_ One day,  _ he had twittered to himself underneath his breath.  _ One day I will be a part of the stars. I will do amazing things when I get older and earn a place in the sky when I die. I will be one of the greats and rest among them. _

He had been partially wrong and partially right then. Yes, he had certainly become one of the greats after doing amazing things. However, it didn’t earn him a place in the stars- all that he ended up earning was being imprisoned for all eternity on an empty, barren machine that once was his. All that it earned him was infinite solitude and loneliness. 

It was truly insane, and perhaps a bit cruel, knowing that the stars he solemnly looked up to now were the exact same ones he had looked at with such glee and longing so long ago.

 

It also was the same sky that he gazed at with his companions once upon a time.

 

\---

 

As usual, the six of them were traveling from place to place once more for whatever business they had to deal with. At this point they were all resting in the plains, their bellies full from a hearty supper cooked by Link and their backs resting in the soft grass. They were gazing up at the stars with fireflies every now and then flying over them to come into view. 

Earlier both Mipha and Zelda tried to capture some, but only Mipha was lucky enough to catch one in her tiny palms. She playfully refused to let the Hylian princess take a peek, who tried her very best to grab at the Zora girl’s hands. During their loud rough housing however, Mipha had accidentally let go and they were left to disappointingly watch it fly away into the grass further in the distance.

Now, however, Zelda was trying to point out the names of the different stars in the skies, while Revali kept correcting her. The first few times everyone laughed or chuckled, but his incessant corrections started to become an annoyance. The last time he tried to rudely correct Zelda, Link, who was laying in between the two, ripped some grass out of the ground to smother it into Revali’s face.

He immediately shrieked, as he was one to do, and started to yell at Link who retorted by throwing another handful of grass in his face. Everyone except for Revali had giggled at this, until Revali retaliated by grabbing a much larger handful of grass and aggressively shoving it into Link’s face.

It took a while to get all the grass out of Link’s nose.

 

\---

It was only an hour later when they went back to their nearby camp where Mipha, Urbosa, and Daruk checked out. Mipha and Urbosa went to their makeshift beds while Daruk curled into a ball that looked too much like a boulder. Revali, Link, and Zelda stayed awake by the fire; Revali claimed a log and of  _ course  _ Link just had to sit next to him while Zelda sat on the log on the other side of the campfire. Link and Zelda were talking about something unimportant as usual and Revali was trying his best to read with the low light and the princess’ babbling.

Slowly the two grew quieter and suddenly Revali felt something on his shoulder. He craned his neck to see Link’s head there, his body leaning into his feathered arm, fast asleep. Again, a familiar  _ zing  _ shot through him as he tried to ignore this and attempted to return to his novel.

“He tried so hard to stay up, but I suppose he couldn’t keep it up much longer.” Revali heard Zelda tell him from across the fire.

Still not looking up from his book he flatly replied, “yes, I suppose so.” 

There was a heavy silence that filled the air. The Rito had always felt an odd sense of intimidation when alone with the princess and Link, and somehow it was much worse when alone with her. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it felt as if she held a strange sort of authority over him...not the obvious authority of being royalty of course, but the authority of knowing something she wasn’t supposed to know about him. Whatever  _ that _ was.

Revali broke the silence by saying, “Zelda, aren’t you tired? Shouldn’t you be going to bed for your precious beauty sleep?”

Putting a fist to her mouth, she chuckled and said, “my, Revali, are you calling me beautiful?”

Revali sputtered. “Wh- no! No of course not. It was just a figure of speech.” Finally he looked up from the book in his hands to say, “but really. You should be getting to bed. I’ll keep first watch.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. It seems I have no choice. I can’t go to my bed since I have been…” He shrugged the shoulder with the sleeping Hylian hanging off of it. “...immobilized.”

“If you say so. However, I won’t be going to bed.”

Somehow this made Revali very nervous, though he couldn’t explain why. With an eyebrow lifting, he looked up to her and let out, “oh?”

Zelda softly nodded. “Yes. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something.”

_Why did he start to sweat?_ _  
_ The Rito shut his book and put it down on the ground, trying his best not to disturb the dozing man on his side. “What about, Zelda?”

“You used to be very standoffish. And rude. And very prideful. Indecent….”

“Hey, now…”

“Patronizing. Belligerent. Painfully full of yourself…”

“Zelda….”

“Aggressive. Ungrateful. Arrogant….”

“Alright! Alright. Yes, all of Hyrule gets it, Zelda! I’m a terrible person! Fine! What are you getting at?”

Again, she softly chuckled and smiled back at Revali. “You aren’t like that anymore. You have opened up so much to us and it’s been delightful developing a close friendship with you- and the others agree.” With this, she motioned to the sleeping Champions. 

Revali blinked. He crossed his wings and looked off to the side. “I...I hadn’t noticed.”

“We’ve been seeing a different side of you lately. A friendly, charming side. It took you some time to come around, but we’re all so glad that you did. We enjoy your company so much. Especially Link.” At the mentioning of her appointed knight’s name, it looked as if she leaned forward and her eyes visibly shifted to Link asleep on Revali’s shoulder.

Revali followed her gaze and looked at the sleeping Hylian’s face. For sleeping in such a strange angle, he looked very peaceful. The Rito quickly turned to face the princess again when he found himself focusing too much on Link’s soft breathing.

“Link opened up as well. Though it didn’t take as long for him to as long as it took you.” She held her head in her hands and leaned down to rest her elbows on her thighs. “I’m sure you noticed how he was so serious and stoic at the beginning. It was quite funny actually. He apparently was always like that though, since he was a child. But it’s hard to miss those flashes of emotions he had in his eyes. That was the only way to tell someone really was there.”

Revali nodded. “Yes, I know exactly what you mean.”

“I was able to open him up a small amount. But not very much. There would be moments where his shell would suddenly crack but only for a certain amount of time. I was...worried.”

With wide green eyes, Revali watched Zelda to see what she was waiting to say.

“Though, after spending more time with  _ you _ he opened up just like that!” She snapped her fingers for emphasis.

Revali stiffened. “What? Really? Are you sure it was  _ me? _ ”

“Yes! That time you two sparred not too long after we became a group?” Zelda shook her head and let out a snorty laugh. “He was smiling so much. I couldn’t figure out why.”

Again, Revali’s wide eyes blinked, stunned. Was he just as amused by him besting Revali as Revali was with besting Link? To be fair, the Rito also was smiling a lot to himself, but… “To be frank, he…” About to admit his past defeat, he stopped himself and started over. “To be frank, he did fight very well then.”

“And that time we went to the excavation site? It was a while before we saw each other afterwards, but he was so smiley after that, too. Extremely bubbly. I had never seen him like that before.”

Revali only blankly stared back.

“And after your first time at the Flight Range? Oh, Revali he was so happy. He must’ve had a really good time with you.”

Again, the avian craned his neck to look at the warrior snoozing on his shoulder. “Really?” He nearly whispered, mostly to himself.

“Yes!” Zelda’s smile lifted into a big, gleeful, toothy grin. “I just want to thank you for being so good to him. It’s only because of you that he has opened up so much. After my time with him, and dear Hylia, after all Mipha’s time with him, we couldn’t get his shell to crack very much at all. And somehow you figured out how to do it!”

Revali’s beak hung open ever so slightly. “Oh…” was all he could let out in surprise. It must have just been a coincidence. There was no way that it was all him that was doing this. There were too many variables, it would be foolish to point Link’s newly found contentment only at him.

“Link just thinks the world of you, Revali.”

“Well, doesn’t everyone?”

Zelda stifled a laugh before continuing her tangent. “Revali, thank you. I know you two didn’t start out on the best of terms, but you certainly came around.” She stood up and brushed the excess dirt and bark of the log off the back of her pants. “Now, I’ll take your offer on going to sleep. Although, I’ll lead Link to his bed for you.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay. I can wait until he wakes up.” Honestly, Revali wanted Link to remain there. At first it was annoying, but now he enjoyed the warmth and pressure of his weight- it was very comforting somehow.

“Nonsense. It’ll be easier to read your book with him off.” Zelda walked around the fire to the two of them, and Revali’s heart sank a bit when she leaned down to put her hands on Link’s face and coo, “Link. Link, it’s time to go to bed.”

Link grumbled and tiredly shook his head in response. Zelda took him by his underarms and lifted him up as best as she could, which was just enough to get her knight onto his feet in a half-asleep state. The avian watched as she led him to his bed while he continued to make grumbling sounds and then watched as she helped him into bed. After shushing Link, she began to make her way to her own bed and proceeded to cuddle up in her blankets and sleep as well. 

Revali picked his book back out of the dirt and brushed it with his wing before opening it back to where he left his bookmark.

_ Too many variables.  _ He thought to himself before relishing in his reading once more. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah i wrote this so quickly compared to the other chapters woaahhhhh


	7. Sand Is Coarse, Rough, and Irritating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revali, Link, and Daruk are stuck in the desert waiting for the women in their group.  
> Revali is dying from heat exhaustion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes the chapter is named after a stars wars quote thanks for noticing  
> also this is sorta like a filler chapter i guess? so it's meh

It was early in the morning when the champions and the princess arrived at Gerudo Town in the Gerudo region. They had left at the cusp of night and day from the stable in the canyon so that the women could quickly do the business needed in the town and then leave so they could escape the desert to their next destination before the sun rose too high.

At least, that had been the plan. It was nearly noon with the sun high in the sky, piercing the three men and horses left outside in the desert with hellish spears of sunlight. Urbosa had “ordered” them to wait in the dunes nearby until they were finished. She made it seem like it was going to take an hour at the very most, but it had been  _ so many agonizing hours  _ and Revali could feel himself melting in the sun.

Of course, Daruk was just fine in the immense heat; he  _ did  _ basically live on a volcano afterall. Link was clearly hot and sweating profusely, but he was doing okay as well. He had worn an outfit fit for the desert underneath some warmer clothes just in case, and so all he had to do was take off the outer layer to be more comfortable.

Revali, however, couldn’t escape from his feathers. He was built for the blistering cold and that was biting his ass now out here in the desert. It was already terribly hot but his feathers contained the heat and held it close to him- and it was much more intense considering his coloring was dark, so even more harsh sunlight and heat was being drawn to him.

The group had brought along cooling elixirs for those that needed it,  but they were already running dangerously low because of Revali. Dreading feeling the heat, he would drink another when he could feel the effects  _ just  _ start to wear off. 

He was hot, annoyed and furious. Nothing that Daruk did to try to cheer him up or lighten the mood worked, so he was just a soggy mess of sweat, feathers, and bitterness. 

“Why do we even have be in the desert in the first place when we can’t even go in there with them? Couldn't we have just stayed in the canyon or meet them somewhere? I’m overheating and not to mention being  _ fatally bored out of my wits! _ ” Revali crowed after he took a swig of an elixir. He was sitting cross-legged on the only rock in the area to avoid the scorching sand...although the rock wasn’t that much better.

“I dunno, Revali. Urbosa said to wait right here. So we wait right here. And it isn’t that bad.” Daruk said as he put his hands behind his head and nestled into the sand, creating a comfortable hole for him in the side of the dune where he could bask in the hot sand and sunshine. “ _ Relaaaaaaaaaaaaax.”  _

“You live on a volcano for Hylia’s sake, Daruk! Of course it ‘isn’t that bad’! I’ve constantly been taking shots of these cooling elixirs and I’m still on the edge of fainting from heat exhaustion!” The angry Rito spat, and then took the last remaining swig of the elixir he had held in his hands.

Link, off to the side, rustled around in his bag until he took out the cloak he had been wearing earlier. Without asking, he put it on Revali’s shoulders and lifted the hood over the Rito’s crest. “ _ It might not help much, but here you go. _ ” Link signed.

“Oh! Ah, thank you.” Revali stammered. “I’m surprised I hadn’t thought of that sooner.” He looked to Link who gave him a quick, simple smile before going back to his spot where he was sharpening his sword.

Link was right, it didn’t help much, but it at least ended the burning sensation of the sunlight hitting him directly. They all sat in silence for a while until Revali opened his beak again. “It would’ve been easier if I hadn’t foolishly left my book at home. I could have distracted myself. There’s nothing to do except stare at all this stupid sand.”

“Try taking a nap.” Daruk, nuzzled into the sand said.

“I am most certainly not going to take a nap in this condition.”

“Alright. But it sure beats staring at sand.”

Revali let out a small  _ feh  _ in response before Link came over again.

He had a shield in his hands when he walked over, which he placed onto the ground for a moment to sign, “ _ I know something that might help…”  _ He grinned. “ _ Check this out.” _

Curiously, Revali raised his eyebrows as he watched the Hylian pick his shield back up and make his way to the top of a nearby dune that was much taller than the one they had been sitting against.

When he reached the peak, Link looked at Revali with another big grin before jumping into the air and flipping the shield in his hand underneath him.

This must’ve been the “shield surfing” Link had mentioned recently. He had told Revali that he tried it out on his free time and ended up being pretty good at it. He had mentioned he taught himself some tricks and it was clear that the Hylian was pretty proud of himself. Revali found it hilarious that the hero meant to seal the darkness was dabbling in something so childish, but he was curious to see this “shield surfing” he was so excited about in action. It would be a good distraction from the treacherous heat.

Link was speeding down the dune on his shield when his back leg put on more weight so the shield’s front was tipped in the air, and he started to spin around to begin his performance. 

Unfortunately, during one of his spins, he hit a rock jutting out of the sand. Link lost his balance and fell off the shield and starting tumbling down the tall dune. He kept landing wrong, either directly on his head or in some strange position. Revali, awfully, was having a very difficult time containing his laughter and was visibly shaking when he watched Link reach the base of the dune and roll over onto his stomach.

“Aw, geez.” Daruk uttered as a quaking Revali made his way over to the defeated Hylian sprawled out in the sand. 

“What the hell was that?!” Revali somehow managed to get out in between uncontrollable laughs as he stood over Link with his wings wrapped around his stomach. “You...you’re making me almost molt!” 

Link only responded with a groan that was muffled by the sand beneath him.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Revali said as his laughters began to cease when he realized that the knight probably was in pain. And much to his dismay, he felt a strong twinge of guilt at laughing.

Another muffled groan in response.

The Rito plopped down next to Link, grabbing the knight’s arm and side to flip him over. In his wings the blonde winced a bit, and it was clear that he was hurt somewhere. There were some scrapes around his body, possibly from hitting things hidden in the sand, as well as burns. 

“Does anything hurt?” Revali asked again as he, without even thinking, used the tips of his wings to flip over Link’s bangs and reveal a small gash on his forehead. He must’ve hit something hard on his head on the way down.

Link weakly signed, _ “my ego.” _

Revali snorted, even through the worry he was starting to feel rise up after seeing the head injury. “You have a gash on your head. How bad does it hurt?” 

Link shrugged a bit.

“You better hope you didn't get a concussion from that.” Revali checked Link’s eye’s reaction to light by blocking the sun with his wing and moving it to the side. It seemed fine. “You idiot.” He leaned closer to Link’s face to examine the gash. It was bleeding quite a bit, but it wasn’t as deep as he feared. It might not have been very bad, but it definitely had to hurt. “Please tell me you have that weird healing ointment with you.”

Link nodded and signed, “ _ bag _ .” 

With that, Revali twisted around to call out to Daruk who was watching them from afar. “Hey! Daruk! Could you bring me Link’s bag over there?”

“Sure thing!” The Goron promptly replied before rolling back onto his feet to hustle over to Link’s things and hustle over to the two at the base of the big dune.

After handing him the bag, Revali shuffled around until he found a familiar jar. He also took out a bottle of water he found as well as a small rag. After opening the water bottle, he poured a bit of water on the rag to use to wipe away the blood before putting on the ointment Link had used on him a few months ago. “I can't believe you. For someone meant to save Hyrule, you certainly are very clumsy and ridiculous. Getting yourself hurt over trivial things like  _ shield surfing _ .” The Rito spat as he dabbed the white cream on the Hylian’s head.

Link smiled up at Revali, his sky blue eyes somehow twinkling through his embarrassment and pain. 

“You moron. What am I going to do with you?” Revali found himself smiling back as he felt his heart jump seeing that warm smile again.

Revali himself jumped at Daruk’s voice when he spoke up behind him. He totally forgot the massive Goron was still there. “Don’t worry, bird boy. It ain't that bad. Probably looks worse than it is.”

The Rito squinted and turned to face Daruk hovering over them. “I'm sorry, Daruk. Did you just address me as  _ ‘bird boy’? _ ” 

Daruk heartily guffawed. “Yes I did, bird boy!”

“Daruk, I swear to Hylia. If you ever call me that again don't be surprised to find my foot up your ass.”

Again, the Goron responded with a cackle. Revali rolled his eyes, moaned, and turned back to Link to ask, “Do you think you can stand?” 

Using his elbows, Link was able to sit up. He put his hand to his head and softly groaned a bit before trying to stand up. He took his time to stand and wavered for a second before gaining his balance in the sand. 

The knight started to look around for his shield and began to make his way toward it when Revali stopped him. “No, you go sit with our things with Daruk. I'll go retrieve your shield for you.”

Link blinked and signed, “ _ thank you _ .” He turned away to walk back to the men’s spot with Daruk, who helped him whenever he clumsily stumbled into the sand.

Revali gazed at Link walking away for a moment before setting his eyes back onto the dune in front. He shifted his eyes all around until he spotted the shield a ways up above, stuck on a rock several feet up the dune. He sighed and started up the steep hill of sand. 

The Rito was having a terrible time. The sand slid and sunk with every move he made, not to mention that the sand’s retained heat stung. He could’ve flown, but he wasn't going to use his wings for a mere few feet. Though he was starting to rethink this as he found himself crawling up the side of the dune like some sort of  _ animal. _

“Oh, Din, Naryu, and Farore!” He cursed as he finally was able to reach for the shield with his wing and grab it. With that, he twisted around, jumped, and glided over to his companions with the shield gripped by his talons. Right before landing he let the shield go to land softly in the sand.

Link and Daruk looked at him, and by the look at their faces, it was clear they were just laughing at him and trying to hold more giggles back.

“Oh, ha ha. Very funny.” Revali furrowed his brows and crossed his wings at the other two. “I’d like to see  _ you _ try to scale a sand dune, Daruk.”

Daruk smirked and couldn’t help but continue to cachinnate. “Yes, I would certainly have made a spectacle of myself, too!”

“I didn’t- I did  _ not  _ make a spectacle of myself!” Revali spluttered before he let out a cross between a heavy sigh and angry groan. He cocked his head to Link who was sitting next to the bellowing Goron. “How’s your head?” He asked with a tinge of hostility still lingering in his voice.

_ “Fine. Thank you.”  _ Link signed.

“Good.” Revali nodded and then turned around to head back to his special rock. “Thanks for the distraction from this gods-awful heat. It might not have ended up being what you had in mind, but thank you.” When he reached the stone, he promptly sat on it and crossed his legs. “Guess I’ll just stare at the sand now until those girls decide they want to grace us with their presence.”  __

 

Revali had his eyes closed, attempting to block out the heat when he heard Daruk talking. He figured that Link was signing to him and they were making some conversation.

“Are you sure? Would you like me to come with you?” After a moment of silence, Daruk answered back to whatever Link was signing. “Oh, alright. If you say so.” There was a shuffle in the sand, which Revali deduced being Daruk turning in his position in the sand to look at Revali. “Hey, Revali! Link’s going to the Bazaar nearby with the horses to get them some water.”

Revali jolted, his eyes fluttering open and he quickly turned his head. “What? No! What if he does have a concussion and he-”

“Oh, don't worry so much. He's fine! That was nothing.”

“Then I'll go with him.”

“No, he says he wants to go alone.” Daruk said as he shrugged. “Just leave him be.”

Revali grumbled as he looked over to see Link grabbing the horses’ harnesses. The Hylian must’ve felt his gaze because he side stepped to look behind him at Revali and made a small wave. Instead of waving back, the avian only frowned. Link stared and a glint of something Revali couldn't put his finger on flashed in his blue eyes before he turned to leave with the mounts.

“If you hate being in the desert so much, couldn't you just fly outta here and meet us later?” Daruk asked after Link had left.

Revali blankly stared at Daruk. Gods, he was so caught up in his suffering and irritation that he didn’t actually think of that. But he certainly couldn’t leave now. It would be embarrassing to after Daruk just reminded him of his own wings. And what if the others got back soon? What if Link needed him? Not to mention that Urbosa might get mad at him for leaving, and truthfully he was a bit scared of her. 

His beak made a  _ hrm _ and he squinted as a response.

Daruk’s dark blue eyes crinkled along with the edges of his mouth, figuring out what Revali was thinking. After a short moment of eye contact, the Goron flopped back into the dune to cuddle into the sand again. “Y’know, you don’t have to be so hard on Link. On yourself, too.”

“And  _ you  _ don’t have to lecture me on how to act.” 

Daruk ignored the comment and continued. “You guys are just kids. Let Link be a kid sometimes. He needs to let loose when he can with all that responsibility on his little shoulders. Let him be an ‘idiot’. Same for you. You don’t have to be so serious all the time.”

Revali’s feathers ruffled up slightly in offense. “I am  _ not  _ a kid!”

Waving one large hand in the air, Daruk replied. “Alright, alright. Scratch that. You guys are ‘young adults’.  _ Very  _ ‘young adults’. Either way, let loose. Have you tried to...y’know...have fun?”

“‘Having fun’ is just another way of saying ‘distracting oneself from more important matters.’” Revali mumbled. “And no, I haven’t tried it. It’s a waste of time.”

“Yikes! So serious!” Daruk laughed.

“Because I am. Why would I use my time on trivial things when I could be training or fighting or whatever? Making myself useful instead of just being a waste of space.”

“Well, that’s not a very healthy outlook. Didn’t you ever enjoy yourself when you were younger? You had to have.”

“No. I didn’t.” Revali flatly stated.

“Oh, don’t over exaggerate. Sure you did.”

“No. No, really. I didn’t.” There was a thin silence between the two, Daruk obviously unsure of what to say. “As soon as I lost my down feathers, I dedicated myself to training. Whether it was for archery, flying, endurance, strength. Even at a young age I joined the hunts to train my eye and my other skills. It was all I did. And it went on like that for years and years.” Revali furrowed his brow and looked the Goron directly in the eye. “So, no. I never ‘distracted myself from more important matters.’”

Again, there was a silence before Daruk let out a loud “Yeesh! Well no wonder you got such a stick up your tuckus.” When Revali squinted at him, Daruk said, “Kids need fun. Goddess,  _ adults  _ need fun. If what you say is true, it’s no wonder you’re so…” Daruk’s hands rotated together in circles. “So…..”

“‘So’ what, Daruk? Hostile? Aggressive? Rude?”

“Not that...just….” The Goron’s massive hands clapped together and imitated an explosion. “Ready to blow. You’re so high strung. You never were able to enjoy yourself even as a kid...geez.” One of the hands pointed at Revali. “And that, my friend, has got to change.”

With a chuckle, the avian said, “so what do you expect me to do? Grab a shield and try surfing right now?”

“Not that. After we’re done with our duties for today, try to do something that makes you happy.” When Revali started to open his beak, Daruk quickly shouted, “Besides training!”

Revali thought it over for a moment. Was there anything that he even considered fun? He’d have to think on it.

Daruk spoke again. “You can always ask Link if you can do something with him. He always knows how to sneak in some fun in a pinch.” He smiled. “I’ve seen him at work.”

“Pft, I don’t need that Hylian to teach me how to have ‘fun’.” Revali scoffed.

“Well,  _ clearly  _ you do!” Daruk exclaimed. After a moment, the Goron said more calmly, “Listen. You don’t have to ask Link. I get it. But at least promise me that you’ll try to just enjoy yourself without a bow. Please.” 

“Daruk, this is stu-”

“Promise me!” Daruk, again jabbed a pointer finger towards Revali. “I don’t want to have a companion who’s ready to snap at any moment. That’s stressful.”

Revali groaned and rolled his eyes. “Fine. I promise to ‘let loose’ and ‘have fun’.” He bent his middle and pointer finger for reiteration on the quotations. 

“Thanks, bird boy. That means a lot.”

Revali’s face contorted into a frightening expression at “bird boy”, but he decided to spare Daruk from an ass kicking today. “Yeah, whatever. Now leave me alone to stare at this sand for another six hours.”

Daruk chuckled and went back to taking a leisurely nap in the terribly hot sand.

 

It wasn't too long after that that the three women finally revealed themselves. It turned out that what they had to do ended being more complex than they had thought, and Mipha had dried up when the sun had risen too high; so after they took care of things, Zelda and Urbosa still had to stay behind and help the Zora rehydrate.

Urbosa was cross with Revali for wasting so many cooling elixirs by “being a baby”, as she had put it, when Mipha needed them much more. Just wanting to get of the gods forsaken desert, Revali accepted his scolding and begged them to leave.

Finally they left the stupid Gerudo Desert after finding Link on his way back from the bazaar with the horses happy, full, and hydrated for another journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Din, Naryu, and Farore!" was my attempt at making a Hyrule version of "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" btw....  
> oof i've had the idea of this scene for so long and i thought it was so funny but i can't properly write funny moments apparently??? so???? When I was writing I actually considered skipping it cuz it isn't nearly as important as the next chapter, plus this one didn't turn out so well tbh, but this is the only chapter where Daruk would be an important part and I love my dad soooo here we are.  
> I love dramatic Revali. What a sdjghkasdasbking BABY


	8. A Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revali takes Zelda and Link to Rito Village.  
> There, Revali becomes furious with Link's lack of a reaction to his updraft, and he has an eye-opening conversation with old friends.  
> Revali on Vah Medoh recalls another memory from his childhood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh i used to sorta be against putting OCs into fanfics and weave them into canon character's lives, but I TOTALLY GET IT NOW SO HERE.  
> if you want a visual for what they look like, here's some bad references I made for them a billion years ago: [Here's Koni](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H3rsFb1sqA76xPJpM3Yfv4SI26gLq3Rb/view?usp=sharing) and [here's Kezul](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H9J2tzGdagJroi0D4eqzQg0kj_N2E5q0/view?usp=sharing)  
> also watch out we got some f-words in this chapter

Revali was out of luck. For some reason, he kept finding himself alone with Zelda and Link. This time, Zelda had to go to Rito Village to speak with the elder, and, as per the usual, her knight was to accompany her. And since they were going to his home, Revali was essentially required to escort the two Hylians.

It had been his idea to use his Divine Beast, Vah Medoh, to give them a lift to Tabantha. This way, the trip would _so_ much faster and a lot less annoying, not to mention that it gave him the perfect opportunity to boast.

Medoh was huge, and Zelda may have briefly been in there once, but the two Hylians were still in utter awe of the beast’s vastness and it’s complex architecture. Link especially was in awe, considering that he was the only one who hadn’t been in a Divine Beast yet.

Link’s bright eyes twinkled in wonder as Revali showed them around, and the avian couldn’t help but smirk at that.

 

After they had arrived at Rito Village in Vah Medoh, Revali led them back out, told Vah Medoh to return to the air, and then showed Zelda the way to the elder’s home. Revali was alone with Link then and felt an odd sense of urgency to figure out what to do with him. Then it hit him.

“Link, I want to show you something.” The Rito said while turning to Link, trying to hold back his excitement by acting sly.

Revali smirked again at Link’s more obvious excitement of being able to see something else fascinating, and lead him to the main landing of the village. “Wait right here.” The avian told him, motioning him to stay. With that, he jumped off the landing and flew away for a few moments.

That was when Revali made his own cyclone from underneath the landing, flew into the eye, and shot upwards to perform his updraft that he recently had dubbed as _Revali’s Gale_. Revali was well aware that this was a work in progress, but was still willing to risk failing and losing face to directly make Link smile that smile of his at least once.

The wind he had created with his own wings tossed around Link’s hair and clothes, stunning the little Hylian. Revali landed softly on the fence in front of Link, and crossed his wings. “Impressive, I know. Very few can achieve a mastery of the sky.” He boasted, eyeing the Hylian in front of him closely.

Irritatingly, the knight’s eyes weren’t wide with awe like he had anticipated. They had been blankly staring back at him with no emotion that he could see. His face was empty, with only his mouth barely agape.

_What?_

Revali continued with his boasting, talking very highly of himself by bragging about his new ability as well as his archery skills. Nothing. Why? Why was there nothing? Wasn’t he impressed by him? He was _just_ giddy a minute ago! What was this moron’s issue?

To try to get another reaction, anything, he challenged Link instead. “...unless you can prove me wrong? Maybe we should just settle this one on one?” Again, nothing. Then he tried to mock him. “But where...oh I know! How about up there?” He said whilst motioning to Vah Medoh hovering around the village above.

Nothing. Fine then. Whatever.

“Oh, you must pardon me! I forgot you have no way of making it to that Divine Beast on your own.” He mocked, again using a dark sly tone to try and coat his irritation at the lack of a reaction. He wanted to see that smile again. That twinkle. Why wasn’t it there? Wasn’t he impressive enough?

The Rito readied himself and jumped into the air. His wings, again, made Link’s blonde hair fly all around as he flapped them to soar towards Vah Medoh. On his way up, he twisted around and yelled, “good luck sealing the darkness!” for another attempt at mockery before disappearing into the ancient machine high above the stupid Hylian knight.

  
  


Afterwards, Revali stomped into Vah Medoh to find his bag that he brought and pulled out his journal to scribble in. He was quaking from anger and with something similar to embarrassment. He put himself out there to impress Link and to brag about his astounding ability, and all he did was just blankly stare back! Knowing that there was a chance of failure when showing himself off made the Rito feel even more offended and outraged. Scrawling out his frustrations always made him feel better, so that’s what he did.

“... _I also gave him the privilege of seeing me perform Revali's Gale. Nothing. No reaction at all to my impressive feat. I showed it to him even knowing there was a chance of failure, since it's still so new. He must truly be slow-witted. I tried to provoke him into facing me, but to no avail.”_ Revali wrote in his journal in anger before he heard someone else land onto Medoh. In a fit of rage, he continued to write instead of investigating.

“Revali?” A familiar voice called, echoing throughout the machine. “Revali, I know you’re in here somewhere. I just saw you fly up here, dear.”

_Ugh. Not Koni. Not now._

“I’m over here, Koni!” Revali yelled, his voice reverberating in the Divine Beast to give his location, still finishing his entry in his diary. Couldn’t Hylia ever just let him stew in his own bitterness? He wanted to be alone right now for goodness’ sake.

Approaching footsteps echoed the halls as well as small sounds of amazement. This was Koni’s first time in Vah Medoh afterall. Eventually, the footsteps made their way to the room Revali was hiding out in. “There you are! Goddess, this place is so massive I thought I was going to get lost!”

Revali looked up to see the owner of the pleasant voice; an older Rito that he had known all his life. Koni was a large and thick white and purple Rito, but instead of appearing strong and burly, he looked soft. His forest green eyes always seemed to be half open, and a sweet expression was always plastered on his face. He was married to a warrior named Kezul and was the village’s priest, yet, because of his feminine, caring, and calm personality, he found himself taking on a role of being the motherly figure to the orphaned hatchlings and fledglings. Including Revali when he was a child.

When Revali said nothing, Koni sternly said, “Well, you’re finally home and your plan is to coop yourself up in this beast? Not even a simple ‘hello’ for me?”

“Hello, Koni.” Revali grumbled.

“It’s good to see you, too, dear.” Koni said almost sarcastically. “It’s been some time since you’ve been home. Kezul and I have missed you.”

“Yes, sorry for not being home very much. I’ve been quite busy with being the Rito Champion and keeping Hyrule together, as you should know.”

Koni made a sort of humming sound, deciding whether to scold Revali for the retort. He must’ve decided against it, because he asked, “Would you like to join Kezul and I for some dinner? He should be cooking some stew right now.”

Revali couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows and smile a tad. Kezul’s stew had always been the best. “Of course.”

Koni’s thick beak curved into a smile while the younger avian stood up from his perch to walk back outside with the purple Rito. As they walked together, they began to talk like they had before he become a champion.

Revali was starting to feel better already.

 

After a short flight, they landed on the platform closest to the house that Koni and Kezul shared. Revali stood behind Koni who strolled through the doorway to announce their arrival. “I’m back, my honeycomb!” The purple Rito sang to his mate inside.

“Welcome home, my flower.” A gravelly voice responded.

_Ugh._

Kezul came into view, rising from his seat beside their pot and fire to greet his love. Revali almost retched from hearing them call each other cheesy pet names, and more so when Kezul and Koni nuzzled their foreheads together; the way that Rito lovers greet each other.

After the sickening display was over, a sharp pair of frighteningly bright red eyes flicked to Revali.

Kezul was only a bit above average height, but tall enough to tower over Revali who was short by Rito standards. The older Rito was a sort of dusty orangish-red color with dark grey markings and had the perfect stature for a Rito warrior- thin, good for flying, but still muscley and husky. Even though they hatched the same year, Koni was only just beginning to show the signs of aging while Kezul already was bordering on looking haggard from stress and countless battles.

It was actually quite funny that Koni and Kezul were so in love to a disgusting degree because their personalities were polar opposites. Kezul was very harsh, blunt and especially gruff, which made him perfect for serving as Revali’s mentor before Revali had surpassed his skills when he was but a juvenile. He had been a valued warrior, but was forced to retire when his long history of injuries began to weigh him down.

Seeing Revali, Kezul’s usual hard look softened. “Ah, Revali.” He uttered as his dark beige beak raised into a slightly excited smile. Kezul opened his wings for a hug, to which Revali reluctantly obliged. His old mentor was the only person in all of Hyrule that he was fine with hugging. They both patted each other on the back as Kezul said, “It’s nice to see you.”

“Yes, good to see you, too. It’s been some time.” Revali replied as they broke apart.

“Come in, come in. Don’t be such a stranger. Take a seat. The stew is nearly finished.” Kezul said as he ushered the blue avian inside and sat back down to tend to the food.

 

After the stew was finished, Koni handed Kezul three bowls to fill. They happily ate the wonderful meal and as they ate, they chatted; Revali’s recent adventures and feats being the focus, of course.

Eventually, however, the topic began to turn to Link. Revali was ranting and raving about the Hylian- complaining about his stupidity and careless behavior, how him being the hero was such a grievance for Revali, and he accidentally found himself talking him up also, disguising the praises as more complaints. He even complained about his reaction to Revali’s Gale, but Koni tried to convince him that he was probably just stunned and speechless because of his amazing feat. Revali ignored him and kept complaining.

The young blue Rito was confused and a little irritated when the two older Ritos in front of him kept exchanging glances and little smiles. What was that about?

Revali was going on and on about how he hated Link; about how the very sight of Link made his face heat up and how his hands would shake if he would get too close. About how he had trouble focusing when Link was around. About how he never felt this level of envy and pure loathing for one person before and that it was almost crippling.

Koni and Kezul looked at each other and it was obvious they were trying not to laugh. “What?” Revali squawked. “Why are you laughing?!”

With that, the purple and red avians burst out in laughter. Koni’s laughs sounding much like twitters and Kezul’s were low, rough guffaws. “Oh, Revali…” Koni cried out, covering his face with one of his wings. “You’re so cute…”

Revali’s face twisted into an infuriated expression and his feathers began to fluff out. _“Huh!?”_ He nearly screeched.

When Kezul got a hold of himself, he chuckled, “Revali, you dumb cluck. That’s not hate. That’s a _crush.”_  

Revali’s heart both sank, stopped, and flipped at the same time. He felt his skin begin to burn up and feathers fluff even more. His eyes widened and his furrowed brows furrowed even more, trying to cover his shock and embarrassment with an angry face. “ _Me?_ Having a crush on a st-stupid _Hylian?_ N-No. Absolutely not. ” Revali stammered.

“Dear, what you’re describing is the _definition_ of crush. You’re just trying to hide it from yourself with your infamous Revali attitude!” Koni chirped.

“N...N-No...I..” Revali stuttered, unable to come up with an excuse as he looked down at the ground.

Now it was Kezul’s turn again to harass him. “Are you even listening to yourself? ‘My face heats up when I’m around him’, ‘my hands shake when he gets too close’...that doesn’t happen when you hate someone like you claim to hate this Link of yours. The only thing you’re missing is ‘my heart quickens at the sight of him from sheer hatred.’” Kezul dramatically gripped at his chest for emphasize on “heart”.

Revali’s eyes somehow were able to open up even more and the edges of his beak crinkled down as his face morphed into a horrified expression. He had left that part out.

Koni and Kezul both clearly wanted to laugh harder at Revali’s face, but were able to politely limit it to short chortles.

 _No. No, there is no way that can be true. Link is stupid, careless, naive…......kind, thoughtful, strong, courageous…ugh_ ... _and_ gorgeous _…...I can’t. It’s ridiculous. Absurd. How could I ever have feelings for a useless moron like him?_

But Revali couldn’t deny the way time seemed to stop around him every time Link’s beautiful big blue eyes looked into his own and his pink lips opened to reveal a wonderful smile that rivaled the sun.

He couldn’t deny the way it felt when Link touched him- like lightning had struck him, leaving him paralyzed and broken.

He couldn’t deny the way fear struck him when Link got injured and the way he worried over him; how he always did everything in his power to help.

He couldn’t deny the way he found himself lingering when Link practiced his swordplay and watched the knight’s every single move. Marveling at his speed, agility, precision and strength. Marveling at how even though he was fatigued and repulsively sweaty, he still managed to look breathtaking, with shimmering blonde hair sticking to his forehead.

He couldn’t lie and say that sometimes when he was talking with Link, his eyes didn’t drift towards Link’s face instead of his hands.

He couldn’t lie and say that when he was alone with Link, he wasn’t afraid that he was going to combust at any moment.

He couldn’t lie and say that when Link complimented him he didn’t feel like he was floating.

He couldn’t lie and say that every time those ugly, despicable, sickening, disgusting, wonderful, shimmering sky blue eyes fell on him he didn’t feel as if someone in his stomach opened up an enormous cage of butterflies and let them loose to flutter from the tips of his wings to the ends of his talons.

He was an idiot.

He was a gods damn idiot for needing two annoying middle aged men to tell him that this wasn’t some strange, new form of loathing. Of _course_ these were feelings of affection and not distaste.

Revali liked Link.

There was no doubt in his mind then.

_Shit._

“I...I guess that I do.” Revali finally mumbled, mostly to himself. He thought that his skin was already feverishly hot, but this revelation only made it worse. He tried to ignore the holes burning into him from the other two Rito’s eyes. After curling one wing into a fist to nervously cough into, he muttered. “I guess...I... do like him.” He nearly growled to add, “somehow.”

Koni leaned forward towards Revali. “Maybe even _love?”_ Koni cooed, drawing out and singing the word “love”.

Revali jolted, face growing even hotter and feathers fluffing out as much as they could go. He must’ve looked totally ridiculous. “No!”

Kezul reached around Koni’s shoulders to pull him back. “Alright, Koni. I think that’s plenty of pestering for today. We’ve embarrassed the boy quite enough. Look at him. We made him a little blue cotton ball.”

Being compared to a cotton ball would’ve pissed him off, but the young Rito dismissed the two by going back into his head. His forehead crinkled as he found himself suddenly very deep in thought. The tickling in his stomach from the anxiety of having a stupid crush turned into flames of rage. His feathers that stuck out and made him look like a cotton ball flattened.

This must’ve all been a ploy. A scheme made to keep Revali from focusing and properly practicing and honing his skills...trying to get his archery and fighting techniques to become sloppy. No one could be that perfect and charming. It all made so much sense. It was all an act to distract him from what really was important. Being the best warrior Hyrule has ever seen. How despicable. How fraudulent. How _clever_ of that stupid Hylian.

Revali gritted his beak. His fierce green eyes contracted and his body clenched. The air around him darkened due to the immeasurable fury radiating off of him. Kezul and Koni glanced at each other with worried looks.

Revali stood up, his hands tightening into fists, and he growled, “Sorry. I have to think. Thanks for the food.” And with that he turned, stormed out through the doorway and made his way back to Vah Medoh to vent by aimlessly pacing, muttering to himself,  and scrawling harshly in his journal.

 

The champions and princess were to stay at Rito Village for only a day more, and Revali had managed to avoid them without a hitch. He mainly kept himself at the Flight Range, but when he had to go into town because he ran out of arrows and later when he went to sleep in his old house, he made sure to round any corners carefully and proceeded when he didn’t see a Hylian around.

At one point when he was in town, one of the villagers, a Rito woman who ran the general store, stopped Revali to tell him the Hylian named Link had asked for him. The blue Rito scrunched his face in response and grumbled, “well, if you see him, tell him I’m busy” and swiftly strode past directly towards his house.

Thankfully, the two Hylians left him alone and never tried to look for him, which was surprisingly unlike them. The only time they had seen each other after Revali’s attempt at impressing Link was when they gathered to return to Hyrule Castle.

It was clear that the princess was a bit cross with Revali for avoiding them from the way her mouth folded into a tight frown, but she didn’t say anything. Link, though, held a blank face that had a sense of sorrow behind it.

_Good._

Revali led the two of them back onto Vah Medoh without a word, and silently left them in the entry room to slowly brisk somewhere else. He wasn’t sure where, just anywhere away from them.

The Rito got Vah Medoh into the air, and they were on their way back to Central Hyrule.

He had planned to hide away in the room he found himself in the whole way there, until Link trespassed and entered his safe haven. Instead of looking a bit melancholy as he did earlier, Link this time looked furious. His face was beet red and when he signed, he did it harshly and roughly. Revali scrunched his face again as he watched and translated the hand motions. _“Did I do something?! Why have you been avoiding me?!”_

Leisurely, Revali walked towards the knight that was intensely glaring at him. Instead of stopping in front of him to talk however, he strode past him and made an effort to make sure he bumped into Link’s shoulder hard enough to make him stumble. “No. You didn’t do _anything_.” He nearly snarled, and left an angry and stunned Link behind him.

  


\---

 

From on top of Vah Medoh as a spirit, remembering Kezul and his rough face reminded him of another time when he was a teenager. It was then that he seriously started to focus on his training, and ignored everything else, including his health.

It was dark outside and the moon was high above, signifying it being almost midnight if not already. Revali was in a cluster of trees outside of the village where some targets had been set for the warriors to use. He had a bow in hand, firing arrow after arrow through the dark night air into the targets ahead. He had been there since dusk, feeling the sunlight of day slowly falter and then eventually disappear over the hours; just shooting over and over again.

Suddenly he heard someone land behind him, and then a familiar gruff voice. "Hey, kid. It's late. What are you doing out here?"

Revali didn’t look away from the targets he could just barely see in front of him. "What does it look like? I'm practicing." He said simply.

"Well you need to go to bed. It's nearly midnight and there's that hunt you wanted to join in the morning."

Revali ignored him and kept shooting.

Kezul heavily sighed, his short patience waning. "You need to slow down and rest every once in a while, you know. Ya tryin' to impress a girl or something?"

"What?!” Revali screeched. “No! Of course not."

"Then why?” The older Rito said with a sternness in his voice. “Nobody would beat themselves black and blue, put themselves in danger and avoid sleep like the plague like you do just because they wanted to be good at something. Why?" He roughly questioned.

"Does it even matter?" Revali snapped, teenage angst taking over.

"Yes, Revali. It does matter. Your health is depleting. I can see you getting thinner, and you can’t hide your massive eye bags under your feathers.” Kezul’s low voice turned soft out of worry. “It's scary." He waited for Revali but with no reply he continued. "Whatever it is, does it really mean that much to you? Enough to slowly kill yourself?"

Revali's voice shook. "Yes."

"Then just tell me what it is. I don't want to watch you kill yourself! If it's some stupid problem you have, I want to help you." Kezul’s rough voice came back, louder than before.

"You can't!" Revali’s head hung down as he screamed and he finally lowered his bow and ended his stance. His eyes squeezed so tightly together it stung.

"Revali!" Kezul yelled even louder than Revali had screamed at him, causing his pupil to flinch and silencing the night birds in the trees, leaving them in a ominous silence. "Enough. I can help you if you just fucking tell me what's going on in that thick head of yours." He sternly growled.

Revali threw his bow to the ground. With fists clenched, his face contorted to try and fail at holding back tears. "Fine." He spat. Quickly he turned around to reveal tears stinging the edges of his eyes, that even through the darkness, blazed bright green with fury. "My parents abandoned me."

Kezul’s stern face immediately changed into one of surprise, sadness, and worry. 

"My parents abandoned me, Kezul!" The words echoed in the silent forest all around them; the woods so quiet that it seemed like even the wind had stopped to listen. "My parents decided they wanted nothing to do with me. I was freshly hatched when they just...they just _left_ me. They left me with the elder and disappeared to Hylia knows where. The elder raised me like his own but I can tell he didn't want to. He had better things to do." Revali couldn't hold the tears back anymore. They raced down his feathers and fell down to the grass beneath the teenager's feet. "Ha, I don't blame him. Who would want me anyway? I'm utterly hopeless." His wing went up to uselessly wipe away the tears that kept on coming.

"Revali..." Kezul weakly whispered.

"I want to show the world that I'm worth something. That I'm not totally useless. And if I become an amazing warrior, tales will spread about my bravery and strength, and maybe they'll find their way to my parents. And then those _fuckers_ will know they made a mistake leaving me behind.” Revali whimpered, his breath quivering. “So. Yes. Yes, Kezul. This is important to me. This is worth it."

"Oh, Revali." Kezul surprised the teenager by suddenly leaping forward and wrapping his massive wings around him tightly, forcing him into an embrace. "Your parents? They don't matter anymore. They were stupid and cruel to leave you behind. And you aren't hopeless. You're the brightest one out of all of us and heh...I have a hard time keeping up with you now that you've gotten so good." Kezul broke his gruff exterior when his own voice began to waver. "Revali, you're worth something to me. To the elder, to Koni, to everyone in the village. You're worth something." He gulped and got a hold of himself before continuing. "So please. Please promise me you'll take a break. That you'll rest and take better care of yourself. That you’ll sleep and eat again. I don't want to see you hurt yourself like this. You don't deserve that."

The wind had returned, loudly blowing around them and bringing life back into the trees. Revali should’ve felt a slight cold from the windy night air, but he felt warm and safe being in the arms of someone he knew really cared for him. Nuzzling into the adult’s feathers, he finally let go and his sobs echoed all around them, joining the whistles of the wind. As he cried, Kezul patted his pupil’s head, truthfully unsure of what to do.

And while gripping onto Kezul, hiding his face from the world in the rough red feathers, sobbing and crying all the tears he held back for so long, he made that promise to Kezul. But it wasn't one he was going to keep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ough yeah this goes against canon a wee bit but at this point i don't care!!!! screw canon!!!!  
> also er it's funny that I put Koni and Kezul in this cuz their whole thing is post-calamity...but wike let's just say that their pre-calamity au is this fanfic's canon if that makes sense lmao  
> i know i said that OCs would only show up briefly but after this they'll be mentioned every now and then cuz i'm a hoe  
> ALSO sorry if there's any mistakes- i finished this in a hurry cuz i gotta get to class yo


	9. Catch and Release

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been many days since Revali started avoiding Link.  
> As much as he tried to stay away from him, his thoughts still drifted to the Hylian.  
> Mipha comes in to ridicule Revali.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahah get it? cuz mipha's a fish?  
> Sorry that not a lot happens in this chapter uwagh

It had been a few days (Revali couldn’t quite recall how many, but he hopes it wasn’t much more than a week) since he started to avoid Link at all costs, which ultimately, usually meant avoiding everyone else. At this point the Champions were residing at Hyrule Castle instead of their homelands, as they were quite busy around this time and it was much more convenient to all be in one place rather than to gather every other day.

Fortunately, the Champions were each given a room that was high-class and still comfortable; each having plenty of room with a very large and soft bed plus a desk among other things.  _ Unfortunately _ , their rooms were in close proximity to each other and were on the same floor as Link’s room. So, if Revali wanted to leave the safe haven of his room, he would have to be sneaky and crafty to avoid bumping into someone he didn’t want to.

When they had to leave the castle and travel, Revali reverted to his old habit of flying far above everyone else instead of walking along with them. As soon as everyone gathered, he would immediately take to the sky and fly overhead.

Revali thanked Hylia for his wings, not only because he could easily avoid any conversation on their travels, but also because he was easily able to do the same at the castle as well. All he had to do was leave the window open, and he could easily fly to and from the training grounds and his room when he wanted to practice his archery. He knew it was pathetic and childish, he really did, but he truly felt it was necessary at the time.

But of course there were things that he couldn’t avoid as easily. Needless to say he had to relieve himself and bathe, but every evening he had to deal with those agonizing dinners that he forced himself to attend. He was okay with being avoidant, but totally segregating himself from the world was perhaps  _ too _ overboard. He had to keep up his reputation and refrain from becoming a hermit so he always made sure to join everyone for supper. The food was amazing too, which made it easier to go through with it.

Still, that half hour was excruciating. Everyone already had a set seat at the table, and of course he made the mistake of setting his seat next to Link in the past. Revali couldn’t help but feel his face flush as he struggled to keep his eyes down at his food, specifically when he could feel the Hylian looking over at him. As difficult as it was, Revali wasn’t about to ask to trade places with one of the other Champions like some child. So, he endured it.

 

The days that were spent at the castle, where everyone was left to their own devices, had been a struggle...especially at night. Because that was when Revali was left alone with his thoughts and that was never a good thing. 

Every night that he laid in that bed that was annoyingly large, he was left to stare at the ceiling that was highlighted by the moonlight that shone through his window. Every night, dreadful and aggravating thoughts would come to mind, and no amount of tossing and turning could get them out. He would go back and forth in his brain, between doubting himself and convincing himself that he was doing the right thing. Between daydreaming about Link and cursing him.

Alright, so maybe there was a chance that Link’s charm wasn’t an act or a ruse. There was no way he was smart and sly enough to possibly perform such an act as that. And, well, why would he even want to anyway? There was nothing to be gained from bringing Revali down. It would only make the Champions weaker, but maybe Link truly was a trickster and wanted pay back for all the times that Revali had shown off and mocked him. 

No, there was no way that would be the case. Those bright blue eyes of his were always so soft and genuine- there was never any sort of malice or ill intent in them even when he was playing around and making fun. And there was the way that Link’s eyes seemed to sparkle especially when they turned to look at Revali; just barely, just enough to notice if you looked as deeply into them as Revali found himself doing at times. 

Maybe he liked him, too? No, of course not. Impossible. If he did, Revali would have known for sure. And quite frankly, there was no way that Link could possibly like him in that way in the first place. He was well aware of how he treated that little knight. How his retorts at times were too harsh and how he constantly made fun of him while also boasting about anything he could possibly boast about. And now, with his recent cold behavior…..if there was a chance that Link  _ had  _ liked him, he certainly didn’t now.

From the glances he stole at Link whenever he had turned away to ignore him, he noticed how the Hyian’s face fell and darkened. It was clear that the Rito’s cold behavior was distressing Link and it did make him feel bad. It made him feel awful. But he hated the way that Link made him feel more, especially now that he knew why. 

The butterflies he felt in his stomach that confused him before now enraged him. The feeling of him blushing underneath his feathers when Link touched him infuriated him. So, he liked staying away from him. It was safe. It was better this way.

 

The books that he was reading weren’t exactly helping with keeping all thoughts of Link away either. When he hid himself away up in his room, all there was to do was stuff his beak into his books; most of them being classic novels about heroes and their adventures. However, now it seemed like the book he had been reading suddenly decided to throw in some romance in there just to spite him- he didn’t know if it was there all along and he ignored it before the horrifying revelation, or if the universe just wanted to mess with him.

One afternoon, Revali had been reading the novel in question, when in the story, a companion of the main character had confessed her feelings for him out of the blue. After that, it was only a couple more paragraphs before the two were all over each other, sucking on each other’s faces. Normally, Revali would have scoffed, looked for where this horrendous scene ended, and read on from there, but not today. Much to his dismay, he found himself reading intently, holding onto every sentence, every word of the novel he held in his wings. He couldn’t help but imagine him and Link in place of the two characters in the story, and try as he might, he failed to shut the thoughts and images out, the scene he had read played out in his head… though of course with some minor changes.  

 

_ It was night, and the moon high above highlighted the path in front of the two travelers as they walked in silence next to each other. They were weary from the epic battle that had just fought, from the long days of travel, from their injuries, and from not haven eaten at all for the last two days. But, they had to keep moving- it was dire for them to reach their destination by morning and they still had a ways left to go. _

_ Crickets chirped all around them as they walked, and fireflies drifted in the air above the fields that the path they followed went through. Both Revali and Link could feel their legs grow limp as they walked. _

_ Revali was struggling to keep walking and Link was starting to drag behind as he found it especially hard to move his legs due to his injuries from the earlier fight. The moon began to fall over the horizon, and they were nearing a forest. That was a good sign; that meant that they were nearing their destination. Although, the sense of foreboding doom began to fill Revali, as he knew what awaited them where they were going. _

_ Suddenly, a voice he hadn’t heard before spoke out behind him, and somehow he instantly knew it was Link’s. If he wasn’t so tired, Revali would have jumped out of surprise. The sound was smooth and sweet like honey, possibly even sweeter from it never gracing the archer’s ears before. “Revali.” It whispered just loud enough for him to hear. The crunching of pebbles from the path ceased, hinting out that Link had stopped in his tracks behind him. _

_ Paying the surprise of finally had heard his companion’s voice for the first time no mind, he stopped, turned around, and simply asked “what is it, Link?” _

_ “If we don’t survive... if we don’t make it out of this, I just wanted you to know…” Link’s voice wavered from fatigue and hesitation. _

_ “Don't say things like that. We will survive. We’ll make it out of this.” The Rito interrupted flatly. _

_ “You don’t know that for sure.” Link whispered and went totally silent. They stayed like that for a while, as it seemed that Link had lost the courage to say whatever it was that he had wanted to say. Fireflies continued to drift around them; their only lightsource aside from the weak moonlight that didn’t fully break through the treetops in the woods they had just entered. _

_ Revali waited several moments in a heavy silence before he calmly asked, “What do you want me to know?” _

_ More silence was held between them, with only the crickets and the wind filling in the space. It took a few minutes for Link to regain the courage he had to say what he had wanted to say to Revali for so long. _

_ “I love you.” _

 

At this thought, Revali’s heart lurched, his feathers began to fluff out and his skin grew red-hot. He gulped and looked to the side and shakily muttered, “damn it” to no one in particular and held his face in his hand for a long while. In his mind’s eye, he imagined the scene perfectly; envisioning Link saying those terrible words to him in a silky voice with only the moon and fireflies to light up his brilliant face was just too much more him to handle. Before he knew it, however, he suddenly found himself continuing this stupid and ridiculous self-insertion.

 

_ Revali stopped in his tracks. “What?” He murmured, nearly gasping out of surprise.  _

_ “I love you, Revali.” Link repeated, more confidently this time.  _

_ The Rito gulped before asking, “How long?” _

_ “Since the moment I met you. You were so handsome and confident and strong then….that I couldn’t help but instantly fall madly in love with you. It’s been so hard keeping it a secret for so long.” His voice trailed off and was nearly overpowered by the sounds of crickets in the grasses nearby. _

_ The blue avian was left silent, standing in the middle of the pathway with the treetops overheard blocking the moonlight that had shone the pathway before. The crickets continued to musically chirp and the wind continued to whistle through the leaves and branches up above while he just stood there silently.  _

_ Not a word was said for a time before Revali finally found his own courage within him to reply. “I feel the same way.” _

_ “You mean, you…” Link stammered, his breath quickening. _

_ The Rito archer stepped forward towards his Hylian companion.“Yes, Link. I am in love with you, too.” Revali looked directly into Link’s stunning blue eyes with his bright green ones, and he continued. “I’ve also been in love with you for quite some time. You are just so gorgeous, so dazzling, that I had a hard time keeping my eyes off of you.” He gripped onto Link’s shoulders. “Your skills are unmatched; you turn your attacks into a beautiful dance that I can’t find myself able to look away from.” He leaned closer. “You are so brave- I wish I could be as brave and courageous as you. Your smile is what has been keeping me going; the way your beautiful blue eyes sparkle sends my heart ablaze.” Even closer. “You have been my comfort, my motivation, my everything. It’s been difficult for me to keep my feelings hidden as well.” The tips of his wings reached out for Link’s face to sweep his blonde hair behind his ears before cupping his head in his hands. The Rito began to move the Hylian’s face closer to his when Link grabbed his arm to stop him. _

_ “Revali, we can’t.” Link weakly said. “You know I want to, but we…” _

_ “I know. But if what you say is true, if there is a possibility we won’t survive this, then…” Revali rose his other wing to hold Link’s other cheek before he leaned further down and rose Link’s face. “...I just want one last moment with just you.” _

_ “Revali…” Link whispered before he was overtaken with Revali’s love. _

 

Revali shrieked and closed the book harshly as his feathers again puffed further out and his tiny little heart raced. This was too much and he didn’t think he would even been able to handle anymore of this. He couldn’t believe he was doing something so  _ ludicrous  _ and  _ reprehensible _ . He was suppose to be ignoring Link and anything having to do with him, and yet here he was daydreaming about his stupid face!

Either way, he wouldn’t have been able to continue. The two characters of the book were both Hylians and at that point they were disgustingly sucking face, and he wasn’t about to brainstorm how a Rito and a Hylian could even possibly kiss. That was out of the question.

He tossed the book next to him on the bed and held his head in his hands. This was so ridiculous. 

 

Revali was groaning at his own foolishness when he heard footsteps echoing through the hallway outside. They were soft and the steps sounded close together, so he deduced it was just Mipha. He figured she was just going to her room that was across the hallway from his own before there was a sudden knock at the door.

“Revali?” A high sweet voice said on the other side of the door.

_ Dear Hylia, if you can hear me, I hate you. _

After cursing he rolled off of the bed onto his feet, all the while groaning. He made an attempt at smoothing down his navy blue feathers, walked to the door and opened it halfway so he could look down at the Zora girl before him. “What?” He said gruffly. 

“I would like to speak to you about something.” She said with an odd sense of confidence that made Revali nervous. “May I come in?”

Why couldn’t everyone just leave him alone? Even Link was haunting his own thoughts and now Mipha decided to barge in? 

The Rito let out a scoff. “Sure.” He stepped aside to open the door more and let Mipha inside. As soon as she walked into his room, he shut the door behind her.

There was a certain disconnection between him and Mipha. Of course, she cared for him like everyone else, and if she was in danger he would protect her, but there was still an awkwardness between them. It didn’t help that he had assumed she had feelings for Link, which made him feel awfully weird around her. And, of course their personalities were so different that there was no way they could ever understand each other and at times it caused them to clash. She was quiet, humble, compassionate and genuine, when Revali was...well…

Revali.

“What do you want?” He asked, possibly a bit too harshly. 

Mipha somehow found the audacity to take a seat on his bed without even asking before she answered. “It’s about Link. How you’ve been acting towards him.”

_ Oh, for the love of- _

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said while crossing his arms and squinting down at her. In response, she blankly stared up at him with her golden eyes. It felt like they were having a staring contest for several moments before Revali finally gave up. “What about it?”

Her eyes flicked to the side as she let out a quick and quiet sigh. “You do realize that it’s been making Link miserable?”

The edges of the Rito’s beak curled into a tight frown. “And?”

Mipha blinked up at him before her face morphed into something Revali hadn’t seen before- an expression of irritation. “What do you mean, ‘and’?”

“I don’t see why it should matter to me how that little knight feels.” He did though. Seeing Link’s hurt expression made him hurt as well, but he wasn’t going to stop if it meant him having to deal with the consequences of his galling crush.

“You don’t see why it should  _ matter?  _ Revali, he’s our companion, and we as the Champions have to stay together and protect each other. And the cold behavior you’ve been giving him has been hurting him. Can’t you see that?”

“If he truly had such an issue with it, wouldn’t you think he would try to talk to me about it instead of moping around?” Revali rose his eyebrows at her and sneered. “Could you have taken initiative because of your love for him?”

Mipha’s eyes fluttered and she gave him a look of surprise and confusion instead of one of fluster and embarrassment. Perhaps his assumptions of her loving him were wrong all along? “What? I don’t-”

“Either way, I don’t care.” He interrupted and shrugged. 

Mipha let out a low grunting noise before speaking. “It’s been tearing him apart, Revali. He doesn’t understand what he did wrong and that’s all he can think about. You two had become so close and friendly with one another- what did he do to make you push him away like that and act so coldly? And not just him; you’ve been pushing all of us away along with him, too. Why?” She had first spoken with a calm and quiet voice, but with each word her voice got louder and harsher. Even if she wasn’t in love with Link like Revali thought, she clearly was still furious for her dear friend. 

She took a deep breath to calm herself before adding on to her tangent. “I just want you to tell me so I can help. It pains me to see you treat Link this way and maybe if you told me what he had done wrong, I can help mend your friendship. Please, Revali. Tell me what happened.” Her voice was soft and quiet again, but only an idiot could miss the tinge of anger still lingering in her voice.

Revali just stared back at her, his beak still fixed into a frown and his eyebrows furrowed. His mind ran a million miles a minute; he knew that his actions hurt Link, but he didn’t expect it to affect him as Mipha had said. Perhaps he  _ was _ overreacting and needed to get his act together and stop hurting the Hylian, but a part of him did really believe it would be best to keep away from him at all costs. And what was he suppose to tell Mipha? He couldn’t tell the truth of course, but a believable lie that would make her go away wasn’t coming to him. 

The Zora princess still sat there, staring at him with that horrifying look of anger and waning patience that didn’t suit her gentle features. Revali could only helplessly stare back, hiding his anxiety behind his cool expression. “Well?” Mipha questioned, her ominously harsh tone beginning to drift back.

Revali kept his beak closed and his arms crossed, unable to do anything else.

She must’ve taken his silence as a sign of arrogance, because she briskly got up and turned to leave. “Fine.” Mipha muttered as she clenched her fists. When she got to the door she swung it open, but came to a halt and stood still in the doorway. Over her shoulder she looked to Revali with furious yellow eyes, and her voice retreated back to it’s usual soft tone, which somehow made what she said even worse. “You’re a fool, Revali. If you keep this act up, you’ll only end up alone.”And with that, she slammed the door behind her, the sound echoing around the room. 

Revali was left all by himself, staring at the door with a horrible feeling in his stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ough sorry this one wasn't too good... at least there's some foreshadowing.....ahaha  
> Also sorry if the book part didn't make sense?? It makes a lot of sense in my head but i don't think i wrote it out very well aaaaaaaaaa
> 
> ALSO...I wanna thank you guys so much for reading this crap...like for real.  
> Not to get all personal on y'all, but writing this has actually helped with my mental health and having a lot of people enjoy it and leave such nice comments is the icing on the cake. I never would have thought that something I wrote would even get any attention at all. Thank you guys so so much!!


	10. Whatever It Takes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On Vah Medoh, Revali watches a white warrior lead soldiers to fight a Lynel  
> The sight of the creature brings back memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaaaa this update is so long.,, there's prolly a lotta mistakes but frankly i'm sick of looking at this so here  
> tw for blood

From atop Vah Medoh, Revali looked out into the horizon, watching the morning light slowly sneak over the mountains. After a hundred years, watching the sun rise and creep ever closer to his old home each morning still gave him a sense of calm as it had while he was alive. When he first became a spirit, he had missed the feeling of the sun hitting his feathers every morning and the dull warmth it would bring in the cold. But it had been so very long since the sun gently touched him that he forgot what it had felt like, so he didn't miss it so much anymore.

His moment of peace was broken by the faint sound of someone barking orders down below. Revali strode over to the edge of the machine to gaze down and investigate.

There was one particular Rito that Revali especially liked from his observations of Rito Village in the last century. He had watched him grow through the years; he watched him hatch, grow from hatchling to fledgling, fledgling to juvenile, juvenile to adult. From what Revali would tell, he was bold, courageous, determined, and, most importantly, very strong. The Rito in question was tall, white, and even from so high above, Revali could see he had a stern look about him.

Revali never learned the name of this Rito warrior, or any of the other Rito in fact, due to the distance between him and the village below. Nonetheless, he saw the way he trained the younger soldiers seriously and sometimes a bit harshly, and even how he started to teach his own son everything there is to know about the bow. The resemblance was frighteningly uncanny to his mentor Kezul, and he couldn’t help but wonder if the two were related. Whenever this Rito would snap at an older pupil and when Revali watched him patiently show his son the correct stance for archery with a smile, Revali couldn’t help but  feel a haunting sense of nostalgia. It was hard not to wonder if Kezul and him shared the same blood one way or another.

Curiously, the late champion observed the white Rito standing on the main landing of Rito Village, shouting at the handful of warriors gathered around him. He suddenly made a motion for everyone to take to the sky and to whatever it was that they had to fight that morning. Obediently, the small group of avians leaped off of the side of the landing to catch the wind and fly into the air, and Revali watched closely to see what they were flying towards.

Having to squint, off in the distance he could see a very faint shape of something just crossing the mountains and towards the village. Then it hit him- it was a Lynel. A  _ Silver  _ Lynel at that. That was when his heart, if he even still had one, dropped. Then his heart settled when he saw the white Rito warrior lead the others towards the creature and suddenly he realized it was going to be alright. 

As he kept the warriors fighting the Lynel in sight, he started to think.

_ A Lynel? How did a Lynel even end up there? _

_ Then again...how did that Lynel end up there that one time? _

 

\---

 

Revali was a teenager fresh from fledlinghood when he encountered a Lynel up close for the first and last time. This was during the darkest days of his life, where his obsession with becoming the best archer Hyrule had ever seen inhabited his mind and possessed him into doing dangerously stupid things.

It was then that nobody else mattered and everyone except his mentor and his stand-in parents  were ignored if he could help it. That was why remembering things during this time proved difficult as they were hazy, blurred, and sometimes even empty, considering that back then he felt no need to remember the faces and names of the people around him.

This specific exchange had been with another Rito his age working to be a warrior, although in Revali’s current mind they were nothing but a dull green smudge. They ended up in the same space alone together, probably fixing bows and making new arrows for the elder warriors.

During this time, a Lynel, Revali couldn’t recall what kind, was wandering nerve-wrackingly close to Rito Village’s vicinity, and it made plenty of villagers nervous. With other monster activity going on closer to the village, the warriors didn’t make the Lynel a priority, but promised everyone they would take care of the Lynel if it came dangerously close.

Revali decided that was the perfect opportunity to show his true skills to everyone. He wanted to take that thing down alone.

He must have mentioned his plan to kill the monster to his comrade, because he remembered a voice say, “Buddy, I know it’s scary that there’s a Lynel so close to the village, but we’ll be fine. There’s no way it could get across the bridge here anyway.”

“I don’t care if everyone will be fine. I care about whether I can kill it.” Revali said bluntly without any emotion in his voice.

The blurred green avian had looked him, and squinted at him with a somewhat revolted face. “Revali, do you even realize what you’re saying?”

The blue avian ignored the look and continued doing whatever it was that he was doing while he spoke. “Of course I do, moron. I’m going to kill it and everyone will stop treating me like a hatchling.”

The mystery Rito let out a scoff, shook their head, and looked back at what they had been doing. “Are you seriously going to get yourself killed over that? You’re crazy.”

“I’m not crazy. I just have more bravery than you or anyone else in the village.”

“No, you’re crazy. Insane. Not brave. It’s dangerous to confuse the two, Revali.”

“Being a coward is also dangerous, ------.” Revali had muttered, purposefully loud enough so the other could hear what he said clearly.

There was a clatter as his fellow juvenile threw something onto the ground as they stood up in a fit. “Fine.” They had spat. “Don’t blame me if you get fatally wounded, you lunatic.” And then they stormed off.

Revali distinctly remembers not feeling anything at that moment; no shame or guilt for calling his companion a coward. He hated that. His lack of emotions back then made his skin crawl.

 

It was that night that he had snuck out to battle the monster. He had only taken his bow and a quiver full of arrows with him into the night, off to where the Lynel had last been sighted. He remembers a certain dark excitement enveloping his whole body as he glided down to start the battle. 

That was the night that Revali had his first brush with death, and the night where he had gotten most of his scars that  later lay hidden underneath his navy blue feathers. He thought he was ready- that he was up to the challenge...but he couldn’t have been more wrong.

The Lynel shocked him to no end with its shock arrows, charred his legs with its firebreath, and managed to get deep gashes on him with its spear. Revali learned then the horrifying feeling of watching your blood pool out of you, and feeling the warmth drain out of your body with it. The first thing the monster did was slash his wings, so even when he realized there was no way he was going to win this, he couldn’t have gotten out if he wanted to. 

He was laying there on the ground in front of the Lynel, a crumpled bloody mess, with his eyes closing, ready for the last blow as he watched the monster ready its spear, when a flash of red scooped him up off of the ground. In the state he was in, Revali was confused and thought he was dead when he opened his eyes and saw the ground getting further away, until he turned his head just enough to see Kezul’s dark grey talons clutching onto him. He was ready to fall into an endless slumber only seconds ago, but a fiery rage brought his soul back to life even though his body was still very close to death. Kezul was always protecting him and looking out for him, and adolescent Revali had taken it as an offense, thinking that he was being treated like a baby as always.

Kezul had quickly flown to a safe nearby cliff, where he dropped Revali onto the ground probably a bit too hard for someone on the brink of death. Revali landed on his back and Kezul swiftly sat beside him and started shuffling in the pouch on his belt. The older Rito had the smarts to bring a health potion with him, so he took it out of the pouch and nearly forced it down Revali’s throat. 

All it did was mostly close the large wounds, but not much else. The agonizing pain started to come as the adrenaline started to leave, and Revali still couldn't move his wings or legs. Kezul, eyebrows furrowed and beak contorted into a scowl, glared down at Revali as he got his bearings. 

When Revali had the ability to, he turned to look at his mentor and groaned. “How did you know I was out there?”

Kezul continued to glare in silence for a few moments, totally overcome with what seemed to be a mixture of rage, disappointment and fear. “Something woke me up. And then something else told me to check on you. You weren’t there. I noticed your curiosity about the Lynel before so I knew. Had to tear apart the house to find the potion. Came as fast as I could.” It seemed like the edges of his mouth were shaking.

“Sorry.” Revali uttered, and turned back to look up at the sky above. 

“I oughta finish the Lynel’s job and kill you myself, you stupid little shithead.” Kezul spat, but it was obvious he was trying his best not to let his voice tremble.

“Geez, I said I was sorry.” Still, through the intense pain and adrenaline, the sour attitude stayed.

“You think I want your apology?” The red Rito’s voice rose. “You think that apologizing will fix this? You think apologizing would bring you back if you died like a dog out there?” 

Revali laid still and silent, avoiding his mentor’s gaze.

“You can’t just-” Kezul began, but interrupted himself with his own low grunt. “Revali, I know that you hate being treated like a child, but I have to keep treating you like one if you keep acting like one.”  
“What? I’m not acting like a child!” He shifted to scowl up at Kezul.

“Yes the fuck you  _ are _ , you idiot! If you weren’t, you would have realized that what you were doing was stupid. Pointless. Dangerous. Just asking for Hylia to wipe you off the face of Hyrule. Instead, you were acting selfish, self-obsessed, stupid. Just like you  _ always  _ gods damn do! And yet, you’re always mad at  _ me  _ when I have to save your dumb hide every damn day!” Kezul shouted, and with every word he drew nearer to Revali until he was hovering over him, practically spitting in his face- his red eyes piercing into his pupil’s soul. “Did it even cross your mind that you could have died out there? Do you even realize that if I hadn't come, you would be dead? Or are you still somehow convinced that you're invincible? Because, surprise, you aren't!”

Revali could only stare back up at him, green eyes wide. “I...I….”

“You you what?” Kezul gritted the end of his beak together.

The navy Rito below the red one took a deep breath. The air was heavy and lay empty before he finally said, “I know. I know that I’m selfish and self-obsessed and stupid. I know I was wrong. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Kezul.” 

It had been clear that Kezul was trying to hold back disgusting tears the last few minutes, and finally he began to crack. Forgetting about the other’s injuries, not to mention all the blood that still covered the teen, Kezul grabbed Revali and held him into a tight hug like he had done in the past; although this was to soothe himself rather than the younger ave. 

“Ow! Hey! Kezul-”

“You promised.” A low voice muttered.

“What?”

“Revali, you promised. You promised you’d take better care of yourself and you almost died.” Kezul’s deep and stern voice was broken by a sob. Revali couldn’t believe that  _ Kezul  _ out of all people was crying in his arms. Thankfully, this was the first and last time he would see the man he had respected so much even close to being the mess that he was at that moment.

“Ah, Kezul, please don’t.” Much like his mentor did, he was left trying to calm him down by simply patting his back.

“You promised me, and yet you keep breaking that promise. You make it so hard not to worry about you every second of the day. Stop being so reckless. You’re killing me.” Kezul sounded like he was calming himself down; his voice was steadying.

“Not if you kill me first. You’re going to open my wounds, geezer.”

“Please tell me you won't do this again.”

“Oh my gods. If I say it will you let go of me already?”

“Yes.”

“Fine. I won't do this again, Kezul.”

“Thank you.”

 

\---

 

Revali brought himself back from his memory when he saw the warriors finish off the Lynel. They gathered the gems, hooves, horns, guts, and sword it left behind when it evaporated into purple and black smoke before congratulating each other and returning home. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Of course a group of trained warriors was able to take down the monster with ease. Perhaps the memory of almost dying at the hands of one in the past plagued his thoughts into thinking otherwise.

The champion watched as they landed back in the village, and he felt himself smile just a bit when he saw a small white puffball run over to the tall Rito warrior and hug his leg with a lavender Rito woman trailing behind. The warrior looked down at his son and brushed his head while the woman that Revali knew to be his wife made her way to him and nuzzled his head affectionately with hers. He reciprocated the loving act before crouching down to meet his son and pulled out the Lynel horn he had salvaged. His son took it in his little wings and Revali could feel his awe and excitement even from a great distance away.

Revali smiled down at the family and chuckled to himself. It was always heartwarming seeing families down below so happy with each other and surrounding each other with love. It was nice.

Something suddenly occurred to him though as another memory came to mind. 

_ A Lynel, huh? Wasn’t it a Lynel back then, too? _

 

\---

 

It was nearing two weeks of Revali’s ridiculous avoidant behavior at this point. Link became avoidant himself, Mipha had given up on helping after their exchange, Zelda didn’t want anything to do with it at the start, and Urbosa and Daruk both continued to try and nudge the Rito and Hylian back together. For instance, Urbosa had a habit of trying to trick Revali into going into a room where Link was, but when he saw him, Revali would just immediately turn and leave. It was annoying how the two older champions tried to devise plans to get the two alone and work out their problems, but it was too easy to recognize their schemes and avoid them. 

However, on one trek outside of the castle that they decided to go on foot, Urbosa got Revali to join Link and Zelda when they split into two groups.

Revali had been flying overhead as usual, but when he saw Urbosa look up and wave him down to the group he groaned and reluctantly obeyed. He tossed everyone’s hair and clothes with the last flap of his wings to land and huffed, “What?”

Urbosa looked at him with a stern look that scared him into losing his own. He hoped she didn’t know the effect she had on him, but then again she probably already noticed and was using it to her advantage at the moment. “We’re going to split into two groups.”

“Ah, alright. Why is that?” The Rito inquired.

“There’s two monster hideouts in the area that we have to take care of.” The Gerudo woman said matter-a-factly. “Needless to say, we would finish quicker and be able to continue on our trip if we split and took care of both at the same time.” 

“That’s fair. Have you decided on the groups?”

Urbosa looked over at Daruk and they exchanged a knowing gaze before Urbosa turned back to Revali. “Mipha, Daruk and I are a group. You, Zelda, and Link are in the other group.”

Everyone but Daruk looked over at Urbosa quizzically, while Link and Revali both jumped and their eyes widened out of surprise and horror.

_ Figures! I should’ve known she’d pull something like this eventually! _

Urbosa crossed her arms and looked down at Revali with an eyebrow raised. “At least, if that’s alright with you.” 

Everyone looked at Revali for his answer and he could feel himself sweat. It’s not like he could oppose- that would just be ridiculous. But he really didn’t want to. Who knew what would happen if he went with those Hylians? Though there was nothing he could say to make his opposition make sense. He just wanted to stay away from Link. It was that simple. Why couldn’t everyone leave him to it? 

He was digging through his head to find a way to get out of this, but everyone just kept staring at him with an expectant look on their faces. He was going to give up and say yes...he couldn’t deal with the war going inside of his head anymore and he was already taking too long to answer a simple question.

A voice in the back of his head warned,  _ Don’t do it, Revali...Don’t do it…. _

“Yes, that’s fine.” He said flatly, trying his best to remove any emotion in his voice.

Link’s eyes flicked to him with two very conflicting emotions somehow flashing behind the blue; hope and worry.

 

Urbosa had told the group to head to the easier hideout, considering that Zelda was just learning how to fight for herself and wanted to try and battle some simple enemies as training. The group divided into two in a woodland, Revali’s group’s destination being in the plains that laid outside of the forest that the woodland became. They bid one another farewell, planned a meeting point, and turned onto their respective paths.

Of course, Revali was flying in the air overhead. His eyes combed the area around for any signs of approaching enemies, but, like the idiot he was, his eyes kept focusing in on Link. He tried his best to resist the urge to watch him talk with the princess as they walked, but he was too weak.

All sorts of intrusive thoughts came to mind; of how he should cease his behavior and be friendly to Link again, of how he should just accept his feelings and stop acting like an angsty teen, and how….maybe there  _ was  _ a sliver of a chance that Link liked him?

 

Suddenly, just past the treeline they were close to, he caught the frightening sight of a Lynel meandering around in the field. What was it even doing there so close to the path?

_ Damn.  _

Revali started to fly down to warn them when he heard Zelda shout. He looked back towards her to see that a mob of Bokoblins with a couple of Moblins were just coming out of the woods to attack.

_ Shit. _

Without a second thought, he swooped down to the Hylians and picked the princess up with his feet, taking care to get a good hold on her without digging his talons into her. Normally, she would’ve been okay with an ambush like that, but with a Lynel close by it was too much of a risk. He zoomed through the air to take her to the other side of the forest where she might be safe and took an extra protective measure by placing her at the top of a tree so nothing could get to her.

“Stay here. I’ll be back when it’s safe.” Revali said to her and was ready to turn around and fly back before she stopped him.

“Please tell me you saw that Lynel.” She whimpered with wide eyes looking up at him.

“So you saw it, too?”

“Yes, right after you picked me up. Please tell me you’ve defeated a Lynel before. I’m not certain if Link has.”

“Ha! Have  _ I  _ killed a Lynel before? I’ve killed plenty. You have nothing to worry about.” Well, that was a huge lie. She  _ did  _ have plenty to worry about. Revali hadn’t killed any before either.

“Good! Now go help Link!” She yelled hurriedly, and he nodded before turning away from the princess to fly back to his companion in need.

As he was flying, he couldn’t help but worry for Link. However, he calmed himself by saying,  _ he’ll be fine. As long as he stays in the trees, the Lynel won’t see him and I’m sure he can handle a few Bokoblins for a moment. He’ll be fine. _

Then the Rito heard a roar.

_ Oh, Hylia up above. _

He was already speeding through the air at an alarming rate, but he went even faster when he heard that sound. Down below he saw Link scurrying at the edge of the treeline, hitting and killing any Bokoblin that drew near with a Lynel at his heels. This was pathetic. Even being the Hero of Legend, Link would get overwhelmed and not even properly think of what to do in hairy situations.

Revali quickly slung his bow off of his back to hold it in his wings just long enough to shoot an arrow in between the Lynel’s eyes to stun it. After the shot, he grabbed his bow out of the air with his claws. “Get into the trees, you nitwit!” Revali shrieked overhead, to which Link immediately obeyed and swiftly turned into the trees. After the beast regained itself, it dashed forward to try and follow but screeched to a halt when it realized that its massive form wouldn’t be able to fit between the trees that were clustered close together. It roared in fury, and was readying itself to breathe fire into the woods in an attempt to get at its prey. 

“It’s about to breathe fire, Link! Get out of its attack range! Move further into the forest!” Revali loudly ordered again, and the Hylian below obeyed once more. Just in the nick of time, Link got out of the way of the blast as flames shot out of the mouth of the creature, who again shot two more fire blasts into the forest.

Luckily, the fire attacks had gotten to some Bokoblins and a Moblin that were chasing Link, and they were lit on fire and soon perished. Revali was worried that the fire would spread through the trees, but he was relieved when it hadn’t; the trees were green and wet enough to resist the flames.

The Rito quickly flew to the knight still running through the forest to shout above the trees, “do you think you’ll be able to handle these little Bokoblins while I try to keep the Lynel at bay for you?” Even though it had been a fortnight, Revali’s typical behavior towards Link immediately came back in the form of a snide remark fitted into a question.

After kicking a Bokoblin back and slicing it with the master sword, Link was able to look at the avian above to smirk and nod. Revali smirked back before twisting around towards the Lynel standing in the open patch it had created with its fire blast. 

Revali threw his bow into the air from his feet to grip it with his hands and shot an arrow at the Lynel’s forehead, causing it to stumble and hold its face in pain as it had done before. With that, he flew forward towards the monster after slinging the bow back onto his back. He wasn’t quite sure how to attack the thing without shooting arrow after arrow at it until he ran out, and it wasn’t exactly something he could fight in hand to hand combat. So, he decided to test something out- really, he had to fight this thing with guesses and assumptions, considering his last attempt with a Lynel ended in utter failure.

With the Lynel still clutching his face, he zoomed towards it, spread out his feet, and dug his talons into the head and slashed down. The skin was thick like the Rito thought it would be, but blood still managed to seep out, coating the avian’s claws with crimson. Revali had been so close to reaching the eyes with his talons, but he had to get back before the creature was able to grab him. The Rito let out a victory laugh.

Great, so that worked, but the Lynel probably wouldn’t let Revali have another chance after that. He knew that shock arrows would work perfectly for stunning the creature for longer periods of time, but he only had two shock arrows tucked away in his quiver and all other special arrows were, of course, left at home. Only so many arrows could fit into one quiver.

Before Revali could think of what his next move would be, the Lynel threw its head to face him, took a shockingly loud deep breath, and leaned backwards to ready a fire blast towards the aired Rito. Those were easy to maneuver around; as long he paid attention to where the Lynel was facing with each blow, it wasn’t hard to avoid the flames. It was the same with the arrows when the Lynel took out its bow.

After dodging a couple of attacks, the Rito archer flew through the air towards the back of the Lynel’s neck with talons ready when he thought he saw an opening. He was dead wrong, but it was too late to back out before he was swatted out of the air like a measly fly.

His eyes clenched together as he landed hard on his back and skidded across the ground. When he groaned and opened his eyes, he saw a familiar face looking down at him. “Hi, Link.” He greeted flatly. Link was standing over him and was smiling down while giving a simple wave.

_ “Need some help?”  _ The Hylian signed, and honestly it was so refreshing for Revali to see those hands talk to him specifically for the first time in a while.

“I suppose if you want to. But I don’t need it. You’ll only become a liability.” Revali jested. After the Hylian stepped aside for Revali to sit up, he bat his wings once to fly back into the sky. “Be sure to watch its movements closely. If you do, you’ll be able to tell when its about to attack and how. It’s very fast, so be careful. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” When Revali noticed Link grin, he blurted, “er, I don’t want you to die on my account!”

With that, the Lynel leaned forward to grip the ground with its hands and prepared itself to dash forward towards the Hylian. Link was ready to perfectly dodge, but when he took his first step to jump out of the way of the monster barreling towards him, Revali shot an arrow at its head in the air. Again, it stumbled backwards and held its face in pain. 

Thankfully, Link didn’t need any instructions and rushed forward to spam the beast with stabs and slashes. The Hylian tried to slash at the back of its ankles to possibly hinder it from moving, but because of the creature’s tough skin, the sword wasn’t able to cut deep enough before Link had to jump back and dodge another attack. That would’ve been too easy.

“Here!” Revali took out one of his shock arrows and flung it at the beast’s head at an attempt to stun it longer than with a regular arrow. “Try again!”

Link ran forward to try again, using the few extra seconds he was given to attack the ankles. It wasn’t enough. 

When the Lynel regained itself, it tried to attack with its sword, to which Link just barely dodged it. It looked as if they would just have to repeat the process of Revali stunning the beast with its arrows and Link attacking and dodging. The Rito even tried to attack with his talons when he saw an opening only to be swatted away. But there must have been something else they could do; an attack plan that was safe, quick, and doable. There were already too many close calls for Link so they had to kill this thing fast. Revali was left to ponder this while aiding the knight below.

That was when it was clear that Link had an awful idea, judging by the way he had looked up at Revali with a devious grin. The Hylian looked back to the Lynel and made a dash towards it. “Link, what are you doing?!” The avian man screeched after he shot an arrow to stun the beast when its sword was mid-swing. 

While it was still stunned, Link rushed around the Lynel’s body until it got to its rear. He couldn’t seriously be thinking of mounting that gods forsaken thing, right?

Obviously, that was exactly what he had been thinking. Although, when he had managed to mount the Lynel, it was clear that he wasn’t quite ready to be thrown around so much by the creature’s violent bucking. Still, he managed to take out his sword to perform some sort of attack. As Link prepared his sword, Revali readied an arrow and shot at the Lynel’s head again to stun it. Unfortunately, this didn’t so much as stop the bucking as it made the monster buck harder. Link had to grab onto the Lynel’s mane so as not to go flying off, and Revali’s stomach sunk at his mistake. “Oh! Sorry!”

Link ignored the apology and when he was stable enough, he pulled his sword back to stab as hard as he could into the back of the Lynel. It viciously roared and managed to buck even harder than before. The knight used his sword stuck into the body of the monster to steady himself, resulting in him twisting it and causing more blood to pool out of the Lynel and onto his face and clothes. Even though he was trying his best to stay on, Link was still able to push the sword even further, crimson spraying him. 

Revali could only watch in horror as his companion couldn’t hold on any longer, and with one last, hard buck, he was flung off the Lynel’s body, through the air, and directly into a large boulder nearby. He slammed into the large rock with a sickening  _ thud _ and hit his head on impact, going limp and slumping down.

_ That stupid idiot! _

In no time, the severely injured Lynel whipped around towards Link. Blood was dripping from its back, to its sides and onto the ground, leaving a crimson puddle beneath itself as it leaned and gripped the grass. It was breathing heavily and emitting a guttural growl. It was about to make the last move to dash forward and tear the poor Hylian apart.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Revali shrieked as he cut through the air to face the Lynel right as it began to charge. He pulled out his last shock arrow and shot it between the enemy’s eyes, and as expected, it stopped right in its tracks and shook from the electricity that came from the arrow.

Revali was ready to kill this thing once and for all, and not with one of his few remaining arrows. Again, he tore through the air with his feet open and talons ready; but this time, he wasn’t aiming for the back of the neck.

He was going right for the jugular. 

As he inched closer to the beast, he could feel the electrical currents that were stunning the Lynel. He felt the intense shock and the agonizing pain of it running through him, but he clenched his jaw and endured it the best he could. The pain didn’t matter. What mattered was killing this thing to protect Link.

With electricity running through his entire body and trying to hinder his movements, he gripped the Lynel’s neck with his claws, dug into it as much as he could, and swiped out. Blood squirted outward and sprayed in the air, this time coating Revali in crimson. The monster tried to roar out in pain only to gurgle in its own blood.

“It’s cowardly to attack an unconscious man, you spineless cur!”

The Rito fell to the earth on all fours, breathing heavily. In front of him, the Lynel fell to the ground with blood pooling beneath it before it finally burst into purple and black smoke. When he caught his breath, he quickly turned to where Link lay and dashed towards him. “Link!”

When he arrived to the crumpled mess on the ground, he could see that the back of Link’s head was bleeding, but his eyes were open- though only slightly. He kneeled down next to his Hylian companion and began his search for any other wounds.

“Are you alright? How is your head? Does anywhere else hurt?” Revali bombarded the injured Link with questions while he checked every square inch of his body for any signs of further injury. He only stopped when a hand softly touched his back. The navy ave’s eyes flicked to Link’s face, who was meekly smiling at him.

_ “Fine.”  _ He signed after he was able to get his bearings. After signing, Link’s hand rose to Revali’s face and held it.  _ “I'm fine.”  _ He signed again with his other hand.

Suddenly it all came to Revali. He finally understood the way that Kezul felt whenever he got himself hurt, especially when he had almost died from his dangerous stupidity. Extreme fury accompanied crippling fear, leaving the Rito in shambles. This is how it felt when you came so close to losing someone you cared so deeply for. He finally understood. It made so much sense.

Just as his mentor had, he paid no mind to any injuries or the blood coating them both and grabbed Link and held him close. If he wasn’t being controlled by his worry and care for the Hylian, he would’ve scolded him, boasted about saving the Hero of Legend a second time and mocked him, but all of that was far away from his mind for a moment.“You’re so ridiculously stupid. You’re going to get yourself killed one of these days if you aren’t careful. Don’t ever do something that reckless again.” He choked. “I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”

Revali could’ve sworn he heard a soft voice whisper in his ear,  _ “I won’t.” _

It seemed as if divine intervention had brought them back to each other; even if it was through frightening and life-threatening means.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahah i've never written an action scene before can u tell ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿  
> love how at first i wanted to be as canon as possible but now i've taken the liberty of making my own full-fledged backstory for revali lmao


	11. Going Under

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revali finally gets a rematch.  
> Later, he, being the ever so generous person he is, helps the hero of legend actually learn the proper technique for archery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took longer than usual!! School and other stuff have been kicking my butt.  
> Also sorry for the time skips in here?? and that it 's bad?? I had no idea what I was doing in this one shdgksahgkjghk

It was a few days after the fight with the Lynel. Everyone was back at Hyrule Castle after their short journey, and Link had healed perfectly fine. They were all taking a day of rest before their next champion assignment, and Revali had decided to spend it working on his flawless archery as always. This time, however, he put aside his cowardly behavior from before and made his way through the castle hallways to the training area instead of flying through his window with his bow strapped to his back.

It was still relatively early in the morning, so Revali hadn’t revealed himself to the outside world yet. So, the harsh sunshine and heat awaiting him in the outdoors surprised him as he left the cool building. Clouds were nowhere to be found, leaving behind an irritatingly bright blue sky with an aggravatingly glaring sun above. It wasn’t even close to being noon yet and the sun’s rays were already treacherous. Even so, he still wanted to use his bow this morning as it was his usual schedule when they were at the castle. He continued down the stone pathway to his destination.

Revali came to a halt when the grounds came into view. Of course that cursed Hylian knight was already at the training grounds, swinging his sword around at a practice dummy. Revali was irritated because he knew that Link would only prove to be a distraction from his training; he knew that he wouldn’t get much done this morning. It was even more painful seeing him there because, due to the unexpected heat of that late Spring morning, he had taken his blasted shirt off...revealing those stupid muscles of his. And the scars that littered his skin that were  _ supposed  _ to be  _ repulsive,  _ but instead were  _ deviously, undeniably _ attractive. And his-

  Revali nearly jumped backwards when Link finally noticed him as he was about to land another hit on the dummy. Link stopped to smile and greet him. Hopefully he didn’t notice him staring- his eyes lingered longer than he had meant to.  _ “It’s surprisingly hot out today, isn’t it?”  _ The Hylian signed after relaxing out of his fighting stance.

“Ah, so it is.” The blue avian uttered before turning away towards the archery targets to evade eye contact. Revali’s avoidant attitude had ceased, but now he felt awkward and uncomfortable with Link in a way different than before. 

After he had so viciously defeated that Lynel the other day, the Rito and Hylian shared a moment together, and it truthfully meant a lot to Revali. He had held Link is his arms, who smiled up at him trying to convince him that he was fine. They had stayed in that position for what had felt like a thousand years, just the two of them. It was a meaningful and deep moment for the avian, but he had no idea whether it was the same thing for Link as well. Revali didn’t know if something had shifted in their relationship on that day or if it was all in his imagination... If he was being too hopeful for something that simply wasn’t meant to be.

A part of him wanted to bring it up to Link, but he didn’t know how and truly he was frightened of what the answer could be. Would he turn him down? Would he laugh at him? Revali didn’t want be made a fool; he decided to act like it had never happened.

Revali took some arrows out of one of the containers on the weapon display and stood directly in front of one of the targets. He took his stance, readied his bow, and made a perfect shot. He did this a few more times while the sound of sword hitting the cloth and straw dummy told him that Link continued to practice instead of watching him. Revali found some relief in that.

While he was readying his eighth arrow, a hand gently tapped his shoulder. The avian whipped his head around to see Link giving the other a small nervous smile. The Hylian looked down to the ground as his hands slowly rose to sign.  _ “About the other day…” _

Revali turned his body to face the knight beside him. “Oh, right. Is your head feeling any better?”

Link’s smile got a bit brighter at Revali’s worry.  _ “Yes, I’m fine. It looked worse than it was. It isn’t about that, though.”  _

Revali tried his best to seem nonchalant by relaxing his shoulders and face, but it probably only made him look even more suspicious. In reality, he was practically screaming in his head. Whatever he was going to say, Revali knew he wasn’t ready to talk about it. “Oh?” He managed to say in his regular rude and playful tone, even though it was a bit out of place.

_ “In a way, I’m sort of glad it happened.”  _ Again, Link looked away from Revali’s eyes.  _ “I know I could’ve gotten really hurt...but at least it got you to stop ignoring me.”  _ With that, Link’s  blue eyes that matched the sky lifted off of the ground to meet Revali’s. There was a somber expression there that made the Rito squirm.

As a response, the avian turned his head away and let out a scoff. “Oh, don’t flatter yourself. I wasn’t  _ ignoring  _ you.” He was about to turn away when a grunt stopped him and made him look back.

_ “Yes, you were.” _

“No, I was not.”

_ “Yes. You were.” _

“No. I was not.”

Link threw his hands up in the air before continuing.  _ “Fine. You weren’t ignoring me. You were avoiding me.” _

“No, I-” The Hylian angrily jammed a finger towards his face at an attempt to threaten him to tell the truth. Revali only grabbed the outstretched digit with his wing and pushed the hand down, curling the edges of his beak into a frown. “No, I was not avoiding you either.”

After Link got his hand back, he started to sign again after huffing in annoyance.  _ “I’m pretty sure that you immediately turning around to leave a room as soon as you see me is, in fact, avoiding.”  _ When Revali looked down at Link with wide eyes, he added.  _ “Yes, I noticed. The reason why we never crossed paths when we were in the same castle for weeks isn’t that much of a mystery.” _

Revali opened his beak to come up with an excuse, but clicked it back shut when he couldn’t think of anything. Instead, he slowly began to turn back towards the targets again. Trying to keep their eye contact, Link sidestepped along with the avian and kept signing.

_ “I know you obviously don’t want to talk about it, but…” _

“Yes. I don’t.” Revali firmly stated, trying to avoid eye contact but he found it impossible to tear himself away.

_ “I just want to know what I did to make you avoid and ignore me like that. I don’t want to repeat the same mistake. I missed spending time with you.” _

Revali’s heart lurched. “Er...I...it had nothing to do with you. I was...going...through something and I took it out on you.” He stammered before heaving a sigh, hoping that this was enough to get Link to back off. “I apologize for my behavior.” 

Link seemed to believe it, because his posture softened and his hands moved with less urgency than before when he said,  _ “What was it? If there’s anyway I could help-” _

“No.” Revali snapped perhaps a bit too loudly. When he saw how it startled Link, he turned his face back to him and repeated softly. “No.” A curled wing went to his beak for him to awkwardly cough into. “The issue already came and went. Thank you, but I don’t need any assistance.”

Cocking his head slightly while furrowing his brows, it was clear that Link didn’t believe him now, but accepted his answer anyway.  _ “Right. Then I’ll leave you to it.”  _ With that, he lowered his hands and stepped around Revali before picking his sword back up and continuing his practice. The avian archer followed suit by turning back to the targets and returning to his stance.

 

They both trained in silence, with only the  _ whack _ s of the master sword on cloth and straw and the  _ thnk  _ of arrows into wood between them. When Revali went up to the targets to retrieve the arrows and strode back to his spot to shoot again, he caught sight of Link training once more. He watched for a moment before an idea hit him.

“I want a rematch.”

Link suddenly stopped mid-swing to turn to his companion with an eyebrow raised.

“I want a rematch.” He repeated. “I’ve gotten better at combat since we sparred those few months ago.” The edges of his beak curled into his token sly grin. “I want to prove that I’ve gotten better than you.”

The Hylian knight stifled a laugh.  _ “Oh you think so, huh?” _

“I don’t think so. I  _ know  _ so.” The ave said as he strode over to the weapon display to grab himself a wooden practice sword. “I would offer to spar with steel, but I don’t want to accidentally kill you.” 

_ “How thoughtful of you.”  _ Revali out of the corner of his eye saw Link reply as the Hylian also went over to grab a wood sword.

Revali didn’t give Link a second to ready himself for the fight before he swung his sword at him. Just in the nick of time, he pulled out the sword and flung it upwards to defend himself, causing his attacker to stagger back a step. Link gave Revali an amused look and got an annoyed scowl in return.

After that, Link flew forward with purpose and their sparring began. They became a flash of dirty-blonde and deep blue, moving faster than the eye could see. Each swing, block, parry and dodge was perfect, leaving the offender unable to hit the defender. There was the constant sound of wood hitting against wood as they each attempted to get a blow on the other to no avail. Revali was finally let in on Link’s dance, changing the usual solo dance the Hylian performed alone with his sword into a hectic, expeditious, and violent waltz; although, they were perpetually battling over who was to be the leader.

It was amazing how long the fight had been drawn out, but even more amazing that they had kept up their endurance because of their desperation to beat the other. However, Link made an error in his block from the avian’s attack, and barely missed the wooden sword that was aimed at his side.

“Ha! Is the little Hylian getting weary?” Revali taunted through heavy breaths while he parried an oncoming attack from his partner. Instead of glaring, Link’s lips instead curled into an unsettling grin.

Suddenly, Link quickly reached over with his left hand to pinch Revali’s side- and pretty hard at that. The blue avian shrieked out of surprise and stumbled backward. “ _ Hey!  _ What the-” he managed to squawk out of offense before Link took the opportunity to sweep Revali out from under his feet with his legs. The archer tumbled onto the ground while shrieking again,  landing flat on his back. A familiar and fiery rage began to bubble up inside of him as he looked up towards Link. The Hylian pointed the end of his sword at him to further prove his victory.

It was exactly the same as it had been those few months ago; Revali spread out on the ground with Link looking down at him with a smug expression and sword pointed down. It was the same, yet so different. So many things had happened the last few months.

Putting those thoughts aside, Revali grabbed the end of the wood sword pointing at him and threw it to the side. Even though he was out a breath, he was able to hiss “don’t look at me as if you beat me. You cheated, you conniving little-”

Link put the sword in his armpit and held it there before he interrupted Revali’s angry babbling with sign language.  _ “First lesson as a knight: In battle, there’s no such thing as cheating.” _

“Oh? So are you planning to just tickle Calamity Ganon and expect him to roll over for you?”

The Hylian knight, still looking down, furrowed his eyebrows and his lips tightened into a small frown. 

Revali got up from the ground and brushed himself off. He was about to say something else particularly rude before Link signed again.  _ “You were right though.” _

“Huh?”

_ “You were right. You have gotten better.” _

Revali blinked, fluttering his eyelids before putting his hands on his hips and smirking. “Well, of course I did. Did you not believe me? I mean, you needed a cheap trick to knock me down.” When Link only responded with a smile, he continued. “I would even go as far to say that I’m the better warrior now. Don’t you think?”

Link softly laughed at that. Revali flushed underneath his feathers.  _ “Maybe so. Truthfully, I found myself having a hard time keeping up with you. You never left me an opening to hit you. Pinching you was all I could think of.” _

“Hm, funny. And I was going easy on you.” The ave jeered while smirking and shrugging.

Again, the Hylian softly laughed. And again, Revali felt the skin underneath his feathers redden.  _ “Then maybe you were right about being the true hero.”  _ Even though it was meant to be more banter, Link looked off to the side and there was a quick flash of something sad in his blue eyes. What was he thinking?

Revali’s face fell slightly. “Not necessarily.”

Link looked back up at him, eyes surprised and twinkling.

The Rito stepped closer to Link, holding his gaze on the Hylian’s face. He held his wings behind his back and took a deep breath. “There’s more to being a hero than fighting and combat. You taught me that these last few months.” The knight’s glistening blue eyes scanned all over Revali’s face. Revali couldn’t help but quickly look away to evade that look, and bent down to pick up the sword he had used moments ago. He looked at the wooden sword in his hands as he continued to speak. “You’re so courageous and incredibly kind. You would do anything for anyone, and willfully run into harm’s way to protect someone. You never fail to put other people first, even if it hurts you.” Revali gulped and let out a quick sigh. “You’re the hero that Hyrule needs. You’re wonderful.”

_ Oh gods, what in the world am I saying? How could I just say those things out of the blue?!I can’t believe this! I’m such a- _

Link put his hand on the sword in his companion’s hands, bringing Revali to move his eyes over to his face. The Hylian’s face had already been red from the heat and fight, but the redness in his face and ears deepened. He looked deeply into Revali’s eyes as he signed,  _ “Well, I think you’re very wonderful.”  _

The navy avian’s heart both stopped and pounded faster at the same time. His skin burned and he could feel his feathers begin to ruffle. He hoped that his feathers weren’t noticeable, but it was obvious from the way Link’s eyes crinkled as his smile widened that he had in fact noticed. His beak hung slightly ajar as well and he started to stammer like an idiot, trying to figure out what to say. All the while, Link looked up at him with the warmest, sincerest smile he had ever produced. 

Pride had always been Revali’s coping mechanism, so that’s what he retreated to in that moment. He twisted away and put one hand on his hip as he erupted into a nervous laughter. “Well, of course you think so. I’m the best after all!” 

Link stifled a giggle that was cut short when they heard someone call out to the two of them. “Hey, you two. Stop flirting and get inside for breakfast.” Urbosa said from the edge of the training grounds. Both of the boys’ eyes widened at the sound of the voice. 

_ Oh Hylia, how long has she been standing there? _

The Rito made explosive sputtering sounds as his feathers ruffled even more and his skin burned. “W-We were  _ not _ ..! I wasn’t-!” Revali angrily squawked at Urbosa before loudly grumbling and swiftly turning to put the sword back in its place. He grabbed his bow to sling over his shoulder, and stomped towards Urbosa to walk down the pathway back to the castle. “What are they stuffing down our throats this time?” He huffed, trying to make it seem like he wasn’t bothered by what she said, although his stubborn feathers said otherwise.

“I think Zelda said it was crab omelets, though I’m not sure.” She said simply, and Link smiled wide in excitement for their potential meal. Revali only frowned at the Hylian’s charming enthusiasm. He really wasn’t making it easy for Revali, was he?

Urbosa waited for them to pass, Link walking in front of Revali with his shirt slung over his shoulder. When the ave strode past, the Gerudo woman looked down at him so intensely that it forced him to look up at her. He looked up to see her displaying a dubious grin on her face, and he gave a confused glare back.

_ What? Why is she looking at me like that? _

  
  


\--- 

  
  


The next night, the champions had set up camp in a pleasant spot in the woods after a full day of traveling to their next destination for their duties. Unlike the morning of the previous day, the night was cool and brisk. Their camp was in a clearing right next to the woodland and crickets were delightfully chirping all around in the grass. The stars above were twinkling beautifully and the moon shone its brilliant light down. It was the perfect night, giving the perfect peaceful atmosphere for slumber. 

However, Hylia had other plans. 

Revali found himself awake in the very early hours and was finding it impossible to fall back asleep. He looked around the camp to see Urbosa, Zelda and Mipha sleeping soundly in their makeshift beds while Daruk was curled up in a ball and snoring loudly nearby, looking exactly like a large rock. Link’s bed had been empty, but that had been no surprise. He assumed it was Link’s turn to keep watch, but the fatigued Rito could hear irritated grumbles, angry hisses, and other sounds coming from just outside the camp; which he could only assume was coming from Link. Revali was fully aware that he  wouldn’t be able to get his beauty sleep anytime soon thanks to Daruk’s rumbling snores and Link’s grumbles. He lay then in a furious silence for a while before he decided to get up and see what it was that Link was doing aside from keeping him awake. 

Once he got to the edge of the campsite, he saw Link, bow in hand, who looked to be aiming at an apple on top of a boulder that was at least a hundred feet away. Revali watched for a few moments, seeing Link try his best to aim at his target only to shoot too high and hit the tree right behind it, or too low and hit the boulder. Every time he missed, Link would mumble to himself, clearly incredibly irritated, before adjusting himself and trying again.

Now, Revali would have normally gone back to bed after learning what those sounds were coming from, but it was just too sad of a performance. Link was basically  _ begging _ for assistance. So he began to walk forward into the tree line and towards Link, making no effort to be quiet. The Hylian noticed him, so he put his bow down to look at the Rito standing at the treeline with worry plastered all over his face. It seemed like he was worried that Revali was about to pester and make fun of him for his pathetic archery skills. “ _ Sorry, did I wake you?”  _

“Ah, no. I was already awake actually.” The Rito put his wings up to say, “and don’t worry, I’m not here to pester you. I only want to help.” When Link looked at him blankly, he added, “Truly.”

Link sighed, appearing to be letting his guard down, and as Revali made his way over, he signed, “ _ I’ve gotten better with archery, but I still have a hard time shooting from far away.”  _ The knight looked defeated and especially embarrassed.

“Ha, the princess’ appointed knight still can’t even shoot at something a hundred feet away?” Revali began to laugh, but was cut short by a glare from Link. “Ah..sorry.” Link smiled at his apology as Revali came to stand about a yard away from him. “I’m honestly surprised that you haven’t fixed your archery stance yet. From what I saw, it’s as if you only started archery yesterday.”

Link gave him a disappointed look and signed, “ _ I thought I had gotten better… _ ”

“Well, your lack of archery practice lately is catching up to you. You've been focusing too much on your sword, even though it doesn't need that much of your attention anymore. If you don't consistently practice, you slowly lose the skills you learned.” Revali tilted his head, eyes looking up at the stars above, remembering his childhood and his own hardships with archery in his younger years. “I remember that finding and keeping the right position was difficult for me as well. Not to mention keeping up in training. Although, when you do eventually figure it out and practice constantly, you won’t ever forget it. You can’t go wrong after that and then you’ll be a good archer in no time.” Revali was about to add something else to his mindless tangent when he noticed Link looking at him with a smile bigger than the last. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” He tried not to be too obvious that the Hylian’s warm smile was making him flustered.

“ _ Nothing. You’re just being kind. It’s nice.”  _ Link softly signed. Revali’s heart skipped a beat.

“Well!” Revali blurted out perhaps a bit too loudly. “Helping the legendary hero figure out something as simple as archery gives me the ultimate bragging right, don’t you think?” Link let out a mix between a giggle and snort at that _.  _ Revali’s heart skipped again at have made him laugh, so it took him a moment to compose himself before instructing, “now, show me your stance. I’ll show you what you're doing wrong.”

Link obeyed, stepping into place and raising his bow in what he thought was the correct position. “There’s a few things wrong with what you’re doing right now. The bow is suppose to rest  _ under _ the pocket of your thumb not on it.” When Link looked at him confused, Revali groaned a little, and then commanded, “give me your hand”, extending out his right wing to the Hylian. He didn’t even think about what he just asked Link to do until the hand was already in his wing, and he tried hard not to become flustered again. 

With his free wing, Revali pointed to the part of the hand he was talking about. “This is where your bow should rest in your hand. Remember that.” The Rito looked to the Hylian’s face whose eyes were focused on his own hand. It looked as if Link’s ears and cheeks were turning red from what he assumed was the cold night air. Revali always forgot how the the cold affected everyone but him, and for a second he felt bad that Link was out here freezing in the bitter night air. “Try again.” He finally uttered.

Link took his hand back, and readied his stance again trying to do what Revali told him to do. “Close. Your grip is too near the thumb. That makes your aim terrible. And don’t grip it so tight, you’re going to snap the damn thing. ” Link shifted his hands. “There you go. That’s better. Now to fix your arms.” Revali stepped closer and swallowed nervously when he was right beside him. Link had smelled so good. Why did he smell so nice? He was supposed to smell like sweat and blood like any other warrior, not like... _ vanilla _ . What was he trying to pull?

The Rito reached out for Link’s left arm to adjust it. Holding it and moving it slightly he told him, “Keep your arm straight, but relax just a bit. Yes, just like that.” Revali was about to let go when he felt Link’s arm quake in his wings. He glanced to his face, realizing just how close their faces really were. If he had any less self control he would have jumped backwards. He could feel Link’s breath on his own face for Hylia’s sake. 

“Are you shivering? Is it really that cold?” Link didn’t look back, and instead continued to stare straight at his target while pressing his lips together and deepening his brow. “Alright, well, try again with what I told you. Then go to bed and I’ll take over watch.” Revali couldn’t believe he was saying this, but… “You can take my blankets too if you’re that cold. I won't be needing them anyway.” Link didn’t turn to look at Revali and instead just smiled again and nodded. 

After Revali stepped back, Link was ready to shoot. “And remember, aim just a tad higher than your target from this far away.” Link raised his bow a tad at this, and after a quiet moment, he let go of the bow string and arrow. 

The arrow made a  _ chunk  _ sound when it hit the apple, and Link instantly jumped back in surprise that he had done so much better on his first try. He threw his head to look at Revali, who was able to see that big dopey grin of his on his face. The Rito warrior failed to contain a smile, and snorted, “Good job. Now try it three more times.” 

Link did just that, and missed only once, but not by much. It was clear that he was overjoyed with this, that he was no longer at a stand still at developing his skills with the bow, and was bubbling with excitement when they were returning back to the camp.

As soon as they were back inside the camp, Revali went to his bed to pick up the blankets to give to Link for extra warmth. After he handed them to the Hylian, he turned to walk towards a very large nearby rock that he planned to sit on while he did watch. However, he stopped in his tracks when a unrecognizable, yet somehow oddly familiar, voice called out to him. 

“Revali?” 

He quickly turned, eyes searching for the owner of the voice, only to see Link looking at him, a soft smile on his lips. 

“Wh...L-Link?” Revali couldn’t help but stutter. Did Link just...

Link ignored Revali’s confusion, and said sweetly, “thank you.” His heart nearly exploded. The voice that came out of Link’s mouth was sweeter and brighter than Revali ever could have imagined; even if it was scratchy from disuse. It was more lovely than any song that the archer had ever heard, and being a Rito that truly meant something. His feathers puffed up, and he prayed to the gods again it wasn’t noticeable. He couldn’t help it, finally hearing this voice that apparently belonged to Link was just…

“Y-You’re welcome.” Revali muttered before coughing, trying to compose himself for the thousandth time tonight. “If you ever need help with archery, you can always come to me.” He instantly turned around towards the rock he had eyes set for earlier.

“I will. Thank you.” Link said tenderly before making his way towards his bed. 

While Revali walked away, his heart was beating so hard and fast, he swore he felt it bursting through his feathered chest. When he got to the boulder he had his eyes on, he jumped and beat his wings once to gain enough air to perfectly land on the rock that gave him a good view of the campsite and surrounding area. He watched Link nustle under blankets; some that Revali was just laying with ten minutes ago. 

He forced himself to not stare at Link, and instead at the lovely landscape before him that was softly lit by the moon above. But his eyes kept flicking back to the snuggled-up Hylian man who was illuminated by the glow of the dying campfire nearby. Every time his eyes did that, his heart would start up again and Link’s voice would start to play in his head. 

“ _ Revali? Thank you.” _

He never could have imagined that a hero of legend would have such a sweet voice. And Revali had known that Link was selectively mute, but why had he decided to speak to Revali? Did anyone else in their group have the pleasure of hearing that voice, or just him? 

He hoped it had been just for him. He hoped with all his heart.

After failing to keep his eyes off of Link, he held his head in his wings and groaned in shame and distress when he made a terrible realization.

_ Oh, dear Hylia above. It isn’t just a crush anymore….I’m in love with Link, aren’t I? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Koni somewhere, probably: I fking called it


	12. Dream a Little Dream of Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revali recalls his secret diary he kept to vent out the feelings he had for a certain knight.  
> Revali made the mistake of bringing Link with him to Rito Village.  
> Koni is a demon who is not to be trusted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dang, Zack. Another frighteningly long update after many days of silence? Bitch u kno it ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿
> 
> i am so sorry for this chapter. it is......very self-indulgant. and extremely long. whoops

Revali.....hated it when his mind drifted to these memories in particular. They were the kind of memories that made you groan, squirm and want to jump off a bridge. The kind of memories that made you wish you never were born because they're just so damn embarrassing. The kind of memories that made you wish you were _dead_.  
The worst part was he already was dead but he still had to deal with these despicable thoughts when his mind was especially sadistic and allowed them to sneak back even when he tried his best to shoo them away.

 

His diary that he had dubbed as “The Diary of Revali, the Rito Legend” he had used for his usual thoughts, frustrations and the like. He had used it as a way to overall vent his grievances, as it had proven time and time again to help. Everyone knew that he had kept a diary, but thankfully they knew better than to try and snoop.

After the night where Link first talked to him though, Revali knew that he had to vent out his dreadful romantic feelings and thoughts concerning Link as he did with his other negative feelings. Similar to writing about the depressing thoughts that intruded his mind from time to time, he knew that getting all that emotional energy out on paper made it easier to act like those emotions weren’t there.

By the time he had secretly gotten ahold of a new blank journal specifically to write about Link and his stupid face, it didn’t take long for the first several pages to be abused by his violent scribbling.

 

_A few days ago, Link spoke to me using his own voice. I had wondered, and dare I say daydreamed, about what his voice sounded like, and in reality it’s more beautiful than I could have ever predicted. His voice was rough from not using it for a while, but it still was soft and sweet. It was like a song. And like a song, it’s stuck in my head._

_Although, for some reason Link hasn’t spoken to me since! Not one word from him and it has been several days. Was it just to tease me? Is that stupid Hylian playing with me? I just want to hear that voice again._

 

Revali took great care to hide this particular diary, because if anyone had ever found out about its existence, he would be doomed. Luckily, the bag he would always bring with him had a hidden compartment the perfect size for the book, so he always kept it there on his person.

 

 _Today Link got knocked over by a Bokoblin. It was pathetic. I mean, a Bokoblin? We took down a Lynel together, be it with some...injuries, so him having a Bokoblin get the jump on him is ridiculous._  
_Although...the way he looked at me when I was scolding him for his stupidity gave me the idea that it was on purpose. His eyes were twinkling the way they do and he held a certain smile I can't quite place. I thought I saw him blush but I could be wrong._  
_I was grabbing his arms and shaking him pretty violently when I was yelling at him, but he still seemed very content...and I was pretty harsh on him for making a mistake like that._  
_Maybe he likes it when I worry over him? Maybe he acted like he hadn't noticed the monster there so he could give me the opportunity to scold him like that?_ _  
_ _I could be placing my own personal fantasies on reality though so I can't assume it's the truth. He's probably just stupid._

After a few weeks of using his diary, he had been proven to be correct. Pretending like he wasn’t totally heads over heels for a little Hylian was much easier, looking at Link didn’t make him feel flustered all the time, and his crush became much more bearable and a lot less painful.

 

_He almost stabbed himself today. He tripped when he had the master sword in his hand and was mere inches from impaling himself. Exactly how long has he been practicing swordplay?_

_I love him. Even if he’s stupid._

 

\---

 

The Champions had a few extra free days to themselves, and Revali made the mistake of offering to take Link to Rito Village with him to help him practice his archery at his Flight Range.

They had all been chatting with each other about what they had planned to do during their vacations days over lunch, and when it came to Link to answer, he just shrugged and said he didn’t know. Revali messily blurted out that he could take him along to Rito Village so he could train him in archery since he was still unbearably terrible at it.

Link had looked to him with a smile and immediately nodded his head vigorously with those blue eyes of his twinkling. They instantly started planning; if they left later that afternoon as soon as they packed, they could stay at the village for two days and leave the day afterwards to be back in time.

Revali, of course, was excited to spend so much time alone with Link. However, when they realized that Link would have to ride on Revali’s back, his stomach and heart both did flips...and they didn’t stop the whole way there.

  


As soon as they arrived at the village, they went to the inn to reserve a bed for Link. Unfortunately, a family was visiting the village for vacation and there weren't enough beds for Link. Of course there wasn't. Of course!

The next best thing was borrowing an extra hammock from someone and hanging it up in Revali’s house. Though, he really didn't want to. The thought of being in such close proximity to the person he had feelings for throughout the night made him nervous. And he hated it. But what else was he to do? Kick Link out and expect him to figure it out himself?

Revali heaved a sigh and led Link to his house.

 

 _“Are you sure that you don’t mind me sleeping here? I don’t want to intrude.”_ Link signed after they dropped their bags on the floor of Revali’s house.

“Of course not. I offered to bring you along with me and it wouldn’t be fair if I wasn’t alright with it.” In reality, he _did_ in fact mind. Revali wasn’t sure if his heart could take having the person he was in love with sleeping mere feet away from him. “Wait right here. I’ll be right back with a hammock for you.”

When Revali turned to leave, Link gently grabbed his arm to get him to turn back around so he could see him sign, _“can I come with you?”_

The navy ave clicked his beak in thought. “I don’t think you want to. I’m going to ask two old friends of mine and they can be a bit...much.” Revali really wanted Link to stay put. He knew that Koni and Kezul would have what they needed, but he didn’t want to even think of how they would react to meeting the Hylian, considering they were the ones that made Revali realize his true feelings for him in the first place.

_“I’m sure they’re fine. I would love to meet them.”_

The corner of Revali’s beak tightened into a tight frown as he hummed while looking down at Link’s face. It was clear he really wanted to come, and honestly it would be a waste of time trying to argue with him over it. He cursed himself when he found himself uttering, “Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”   

He broke away from Link’s grasp to exit his house and light footsteps followed behind him and he silently gave a quick prayer for Hylia to give him strength.

 

When they arrived, Revali gave a knock on the side of the doorway to call out for his old friends inside; Kezul was clearly making dinner as he was working on something in the pot on top of the fire and Koni was reading something and sitting on the hammock the two of them shared.

“Koni? Kezul?”

The two older Rito whipped their heads to see Revali, which made their faces light up immediately. However, when they saw Link standing next to him, their faces got even brighter.

This was a bad idea.

Koni was the first one to get up out of his seat and make his way to the two guests. “Revali! You’re home! When did you get back?” He excitedly said. Revali opened his beak to answer the question, which obviously had just been a pleasantry because Koni interrupted him by asking, “and who have you brought with you?”

Revali’s eyebrows furrowed in annoyance at being interrupted. He huffed and answered, “This is Link. The Hylian Champion I’ve mentioned.” From across the room, he saw Kezul stand up and give him an irritating amused look. He glared back as he continued, with his tone darkening from irritation, “I brought him along so I could help him better his archery at the Flight Range.”

Koni looked down at Link and gave him a warm smile before holding out his hand to shake. “My name is Koni. It’s wonderful to meet you! Revali has told us a lot about you.”

Link gave an equally warm smile back as he nodded and held and shook Koni’s hand, or rather Koni held his, considering Koni’s wing was too massive for the Hylian to actually grip onto.

When they entered the home, Kezul walked over to them to introduce himself to Link. “I’m Kezul, Revali’s old mentor. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Link and Kezul both shook hands and again, Link responded back with a nod and a warm smile.

Revali wanted to get out before they did anything embarrassing, so he cut right to the chase. “We came by to ask if you two happen to have an extra hammock we could use. The inn doesn’t have room for Link, so he’s going to stay with me instead.”

As expected, the two elder avians looked to each other and smirked. “Ah, of course. I think we do have one somewhere. I’ll look.” Koni said as he turned away to search through some boxes they had in the perimeter of the room. Link stepped away from Revali to ask if he could help, leaving him alone with Kezul.

Kezul leaned over to Revali to jab his rib with his elbow and gravelly whisper, “hey, if you wanted to, we could act like we don’t have an extra single and give you the extra big hammock we have instead so you two can sleep with each other.”

Revali sputtered and shoved Kezul, who only cackled back. Try as he might, Revali’s feathers began to ruffle, so when Link curiously turned around to look at them, he hurriedly tried to smooth them down. Though it probably only made it more obvious.

Link gave a small smile to Revali before turning back to Koni who was thanking him for wanting to help and telling him where to look. The old mentor and pupil stood in silence watching the other two before Kezul opened his stupid beak to say something else annoying. “Have you told him yet?”

Revali grumbled quietly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Kezul ignored the denial and let out a low scoff. “So, no. I don’t know why you haven’t. It’s clear that he likes you.”

“What?” The navy feathers on Revali’s face began to ruffle yet again, contrasting with his growl of a response. “You’re being ridiculous. Of course he doesn’t.”

“It’s you that’s being ridiculous. Look at the way he looks at you for Hylia’s sake. I can recognize that look anywhere.” The red Rito quietly said out of the edge of his beak.

Revali only responded with another grumble.

Kezul put his hand on his pupil’s shoulder and patted it while he said, “Take all the time you need. I know it’s hard.”

Revali let out more irritated grumbles and was interrupted by Koni’s high pitched exclamation. Revali looked over to see Link holding out a hammock in his hands to Koni, smiling. “Oh! There it is! I should’ve known it would be there!”

The blue Rito shuffled away from Kezul to say, “Alright, great. We got what we came for. Let’s go.” He walked over to Link and grabbed his arm to pull him out of the doorway when those impudent geezers stopped them.

“Already? Revali, don’t be so rude, honey. We haven’t seen you for weeks and we haven’t spent _nearly_ enough time with Link yet!” Koni agrily twittered.

“At least stay for dinner.” Kezul gruffly said. “I made that stew you like, and there’s enough for the four of us.”

Link’s eyes lit up at the mentioning of stew and looked up towards Revali with pleading eyes. Revali frowned and looked over at the other two Rito and also saw them looking at him with puppy dog eyes and hopeful smiles. His eyes flicked back and forth as his frown deepened until he gave up and groaned. “Fine. Fine! Whatever.”

The Hylian’s eyes twinkled and Koni and Kezul grinned. “Perfect! Just give me a few minutes. Dinner is nearly done.”

  


To Revali’s dismay, the three of them got along swimmingly. At times, Revali would have to translate for Link, but otherwise they were easily able to hold a conversation with his body language alone.

At first, Koni had bombarded Link with all sorts of questions; what his favorite foods were, what he liked to do in his spare time, and even about his opinion on being the famous hero of Hyrule. Annoyingly though, the conversation drifted to Revali and how he was when he was younger. The two elders reminisced about Revali as a hatchling and droned on and on about how adorable and sweet he was and how they didn’t understand how he grew up to be such a limp noodle.

Link would laugh and smile at their stories when the younger ave groaned and begged them to stop. They purposefully picked the _worst_ stories to tell; the time where the horse bit his hand and how it made him hate horses forever, the time that he insisted on making Koni and Kezul dinner and it ended up being the worst thing the two of them had ever eaten, the time that Revali tried to catch fish with his bare wings only to slip and fall in the water and cry for a half hour.

It felt like hours had gone by before Revali had the opportunity to shriek, “Alright, great, thanks for the food and hammock! Bye!” while grabbing Link and the hammock and tearing him away from the sadists that held them captive for far too long.

The Hylian frowned up at Revali as he pulled him along and Koni’s laughter could be heard from inside the house as they left. “See you later, sweethearts!”

 

Revali didn’t let go of Link’s arm until they got back to his house. He immediately went to to tie the hammock on the rafters on the side of his house opposite of his own bed when he said, “I’m sorry about them. They’re just so…”

 _“Wonderful.”_ Link signed. _“I loved talking with them.”_

The navy Rito let out a _feh_. “Maybe you did, but that was pure torture for me.”

 _“Maybe it was, but I liked hearing about what you were like when you were little.”_ Link signed and then let out a small laugh. _“You sounded really cute.”_

Revali gulped as he tied the last knot for the hammock and tested out how secure the ropes were. “Well, I’m glad that at least _someone_ enjoyed themselves.” When he stepped away from the hammock he had prepared, he caught Link fail to contain a yawn. “I guess that I set it up just in time then. They kept us there for a while; it’s fairly late. You should go to sleep.”

Link responded by quickly shaking his head, and then again, failed to contain a yawn.

Revali smirked. “There’s no use in denying it. We’ll be getting up early to make sure you get a full day of training in, and I won’t be as easy-going with my teaching as I was before. So, you need the rest.”

Link shrugged and smiled. _“If you say so.”_ He trudged over to the hanging hammock and lifted himself up and slowly got in, taking care not to lose his balance. As soon as he got in, he rustled around trying to find the most comfortable spot. When he finally did, Revali took a couple of steps closer. The moonlight that night had shone through the openings in Revali’s house and highlighted Link’s face as it had a habit of doing. It brought out the brightness of his eyes and the brightness of the smile that he held.

“Is it comfortable enough? Do you need anything else?”

_“No, this is good.”_

“Good. Don’t be afraid to wake me up if you need anything.”

_“Thank you. Goodnight.”_

Revali gave Link his own warm smile before saying, “goodnight, Link,” and went to his own bed. Through years of practice, he didn’t need as much time to stabilize himself on the hanging bed and laid down.

Upon laying down and staring at the ceiling for what felt like forever, he realized something ridiculous. Along with the elder, both Kezul and Koni had basically raised him, and in a way were his parents.

He literally introduced the person he was in love with to his parents.

He couldn’t believe this.

He’s such an idiot.

 

\---

 

It was the next day and the two champions had been training at the Flight Range all morning. Revali kept his word; he was harsher than he was before, which proved to be for the best because Link was quickly getting the hang of it.

Although, when he was pestering Link about his mistakes, he tauntily called him “Little Hylian” as he frequently did in the past.

Suddenly, when they were taking a quick rest, Link signed, _“Why do you call me that?”_

Revali looked to him and squinted. “Well, because you are. You’re little and also a Hylian. Why are you asking?”

The Hylian squinted back. _“You’re not much taller than me, y’know.”_

Revali stepped close to Link to compare the heights, using his wing to see exactly how tall the other was compared to him. “Hm, no. You only go up to my eyes.”

Link’s cheeks reddened slightly. Maybe from sheer embarrassment at his height? This made Revali more aware of how close they were and he felt himself start to grow red underneath his feathers as well. _“Maybe, but I’m closer to your height than you are to other Rito.”_ He looked up to Revali with a devilish grin. _“_ You’re _the little one.”_   

Revali jumped back in offense and spat. “What?! I am _not_ little!”

_“From what I’ve seen, you’re a head shorter than most Rito and definitely more than a head shorter than Koni. You’re short.”_

“Stop it. I’m not short!”

 _“Why are you being so defensive? Did baby Revali not eat all his veggies?”_ Link reached out to pinch Revali’s cheeks.

As soon as Link was able to grip the Rito’s face, wings whacked his hands away. “Stop it, Link!” His voice went high like a tiny child being teased. “I’m not short!”

Over and over again, Link signed _short._ Revali tried to turn away from Link a few times only for him to follow and continue to sign. _“Short! Short! Short! Short! Short!”_

Revali growled and grabbed Link’s hands. His feathers had risen due to his embarrassment and severe irritation. “Enough! I’m taller than you, so _you’re_ the little one!”  

The world seemed to stop and grow quiet when Link opened his mouth to say something with his own voice, and he looked surprised himself so it was clear that it wasn't on purpose this time. “Nope! You’re the little one!” He yelled with a grin, but instantly closed his mouth tightly and his eyes grew wide.

Revali could only look down with wide eyes at having heard that sweet voice again. Horrified at having spoken on accident, Link stepped back and signed _“sorry.”_

“You talked again.” Revali uttered, green eyes still large.

 _“I didn’t mean to this time. It slipped out.”_ The Hylian went back to sign language, and his eyes were looking all over the place but Revali’s face.

“Why are you signing again? Go back to talking. It’s fine.” Revali managed to say, though his throat was very dry.

 _“No, no. I won’t. My voice is gross.”_ Link signed as he squinted his eyes and shook his head. His voice may have been gravelly from misuse, but it was still the sweetest voice that Revali ever heard, and he felt blessed to be graced by its sound again; even if it was to only be for a fleeting moment.

“Well, I…” Revali swallowed hard, trying to bring moisture back to his dry throat before he hesitantly continued. His brain stopped working, so he didn’t think about what he was saying. “I... I personally love your voice. I love hearing it.”

 _Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_          

The Hylian opened up his eyes, blue twinkling and shimmering more than ever before. “Really?” He murmured aloud, and his light skin began to flush a light pink.

The navy Rito looked away, avoiding eye contact as he felt his cursed feathers begin to rise again, but from fluster rather than anger. “Yes.” He said simply before taking a deep breath.  
Link looked to the ground and began to stutter words, but had to cough when his voice first came out especially grainy. “O-Oh. Uh, thank you.”

Link continued to stare at the wooden panels beneath them and Revali continued to look off to the side; they avoided looking at each other for several moments before the ave spoke. “Why are you able to talk now?”

The Hylian knight shuffled and let out a small cough to ready his throat for speaking again. “W-Well, like I said, I didn’t me-mean to.” Link held his arms behind his back, and while keeping his gaze towards his feet, he started to draw circles with one foot.

_Cute._

“I-I can only talk out loud when I’m r-really comfortable, which... isn’t often.” He bit his lip. “And, I guess that I’ve g-gotten really comfortable around you so I wasn’t sc-scared to talk anym-more.”

Revali’s heart fluttered, though he still kept his eyes away from Link’s face. “Is that so?” He said and Link only meekly nodded in response.

If he could talk when he was especially comfortable, that must mean that both Zelda and Mipha have heard it before he did. The two Hylians had gotten very close through Link becoming her appointed knight that they could easily be labeled as best friends. Not to mention that Mipha had been a good friend of Link for a good portion of his life, so it was a given that he felt safe around her. They must have heard his voice before; tens, hundreds, _thousands_ of times.

A twinge of jealousy gripped his heart and squeezed. The voice wasn’t just for him- he was an idiot for hoping it would be. It’s not like Link’s voice belonged to him anyway. It wasn’t fair for Revali to get mad and jealous over who heard his crush’s voice. He was being stupid, but that painful feeling of jealousy persisted.

“Well, please continue to speak whenever you feel comfortable.” The Rito didn’t turn his head, but his eyes did flick to the Hylian next to him, whose frightened look started to change into a softer one as he lifted his head to look at Revali.  “It’s….nice.”

“O-Okay.” Link nearly whispered.

They stood there in an awkward silence that seemed to last forever before Revali, again, broke it. “...Anyway, we’ve had a long enough break. Time to get back to work.”   

Link nodded and went to go grab his bow.

 

Revali had a hard time focusing after that.

 

\---   

 

Later that evening, Revali began to make salmon risotto, but realized that he had stupidly forgotten that he had no butter. He had already promised Link that he was going to make salmon risotto, and the Hylian was clearly very excited, so he was determined to make the meal.

Of course though, the Slippery Falcon had no butter left (that stupid family of Hylians were the ones who bought the rest of it. It really started to feel like they were out to get him) and when he had told Link that he was going to go to the nearby stables to see if there was a merchant to sell him some, Link stopped him when he was about to leave.

“I-I can go ch-check.” Link said, gracing Revali with his wonderful voice again.

“No. You’re the guest. What kind of host would I be if I made you run an errand for me?”

“You’re not ma-making me. I want to. I’m the one who wanted to eat s-salmon r-ri...ri..so..” It was hard for Link to say the word risotto, so he started over. “I’m the one who wanted to e-eat it.” He shrugged. “Con...Consider it as th-thanks for he-helping me.”

_For Hylia’s sake. His stuttering is so adorable. Is he doing this on purpose? He must be doing this on purpose._

“Are you sure?” Revali rose a brow. “I could go with you if you wanted.”

“Th-That’s okay. Don’t wo-worry about it.” Link smiled. It was obvious that talking was very hard for Link, even if he apparently was comfortable around Revali. The Rito couldn’t help but ponder over whether he was forcing himself to talk because he had said that he liked his voice. He shook his head and held his wings out in front of him.

“Alright, if you want to so bad, then I won’t stop you.” Revali slung the messenger bag he had on his shoulder off and dug through it. He produced a rupee pouch and handed to his companion. “At least let me pay. If you see anything else you want, feel free to get it for yourself.” A smile spread on the edges of his beak. “My treat.”

Link blankly stared up at Revali for a moment before he smiled back. “S-Sure.” He put the pouch in his own bag before putting it on. “See you in a b-bit.” The Hylian said before turning on his heels and heading out the doorway.

Revali shuffled after him. Link was already walking down the pathway, but he still called out to him. “You know where it is, right?”

Link stopped in his tracks to twist around, grinning. _“Yes. Don’t worry. I saw it on our way here.”_ He signed; Revali could just barely read his hands with the path being especially busy with villagers.

“Well, don’t get lost!” Revali called out, to which Link replied with an _okay_ hand sign before continuing on his walk.

The Rito went back inside of his house when something came to mind. This was the perfect time to write out his feelings of the last couple of days in his secret diary. There were so many emotions and thoughts he had to get out, and it was dire for him to do so. Truly, he was about to burst.

He went to his bed, bringing his bag with him and opened it up after he sat down. He shuffled around to find the hidden compartment to take out his book and grabbed one of the pencils he had on his bedside table, and immediately began to scribble. Usually he took care in writing neatly, grammatically correct, and in a perfect line even if no one was going to read it, but right now he did not care one bit.               

 

 _Koni was right and I hate him for it. I love Link. I do. I really really really do. And I HATE it!!!_  
_I hate Link for making me love him. I hate him for making me feel this way. I hate feeling like this._  
_The worst part about this is that my love for him is staggering and crippling. And I have to act like it ISN'T. Do you even know how hard that is? It's nearly impossible but somehow I'm able to contain it._  
_It's just so hard because every time I look at his stupid face my mind screams_ "I love you" _no matter how much I try to subside it._ _  
_ I love everything about him. Every little cursed thing about him.

_And of COURSE he had to talk again today to remind me just how wonderful his voice is. After I foolishly told him that I loved the sound of his voice (like an idiot) he kept talking!!! And he stutters and its just so cute and I hate his stupid face I want to punch it. Really hard. Really really hard. Maybe kiss it? Can Rito even kiss Hylians? I hope so. I want to kiss him._

_AH THIS IS SO STUPID!! I HATE THIS!!!_

_CAN HYLIA PLEASE JUST TAKE MY LIFE SO I DON’T HAVE TO FEEL THIS WAY ANYMORE? THIS IS QUITE POSSIBLY THE WORST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME._

 

He viciously scribbled the last few lines so hard and messily that it was borderline unreadable.

 

_I LOVE LINK I LOVE LINK I LOVE LINK I LOVE LINK I LOVE LINK I LOVE LINK I LOVE LINK I LOVE LINK I LOVE..._

 

“Oh? What’s this? Did you finish your personal journal already? Is this a new one?” Koni’s voice twittered out of nowhere right next to Revali.

   Revali let out a blood curdling shriek when he looked over to see Koni standing there, leaning over to look at what he was writing. He slammed the book shut and shrieked, “When did you get here?!”

“Honey, I’ve been here for quite a while trying to get your attention. You were writing so furiously that you didn’t even notice me and now you’ve made me terribly curious.” The larger Rito grabbed the diary out of the stunned younger Rito’s hands. “Hm, I wonder what you were writing about? You were in such a daze.”

Revali shot out of his hammock and shrieked again, his feathers ruffling up to make him look like a blue cotton ball. “Don’t touch that! Give it back! I’m warning you, Koni…!”

“Oh dear, you’re very defensive over this one. Is there something I should know?” Koni cooed, and held the diary high enough in the air so that Revali couldn’t reach it thanks to his small stature.

“Stop! Give it back!” Revali cried, similar to how a hatchling would cry to a bully who took his toy away.

To the navy ave’s horror, Koni began to flip through the pages, humming while ignoring the begs and pleadings of the child he helped raise. “Oh goodness. Lots of mentionings of Link. Could this be a _love diary?_ ”

“Please, Koni! For the love of all that is good and holy- _Please_ stop!”

“My, my.” Koni held his face with his open hand and gasped. “You’re deeply in love with Link. How adorable.” His eyes looked through the words on the page he had open and he visibly swooned. “Aw, my wittle Wevali is lovesick!” He cooed in a baby voice and took his hand away from his face to use it to push Revali away, as he had come very close to nabbing it out of the massive Rito’s hand. “Hm, I too wonder if a Rito and Hylian can kiss. For you own sake, I sure hope so.”

After that, Koni thankfully was done and handed it to the cotton ball of a Rito. He violently ripped it out of the purple Rito’s wing. _“Thank_ you!” He looked up at Koni and glared a glare like he never had done before. “I hope you’re happy.”

“Oh, I certainly am!” The older ave beamed.

“What did you even come here for, you snooping buffoon?” Revali growled, shoving his diary into a new hiding spot. “Surely you didn’t come only to torture me.” His feathers began to relax, though they were still ruffled up a lot.

“Well, I wanted to ask if you two would want to join us for dinner again tonight! Speaking of which, where has Link gone?”

Revali violently whipped his head around to look at Koni again and glare. He ignored the question. “No. You have proven to be untrustworthy, you smelly old bastard.”

The older ave gasped and put his wing over his heart. “Oh, dear. Revali I’m so hurt that you would say something like that. Is that how you speak to your _mother?_ ”

“You’re not my mother, idiot.”

“I might as well be.”

Their conversation was cut short by soft footsteps entering the house. Both the Rito looked to see Link in the doorway, showing off the butter he had retrieved. This was literally the worst time for him to come back. Why did Hylia absolutely love to torture Revali?

“That was quick.” Revali said, horrified at his bad luck.

 _“I met a merchant on the way there. Very lucky.”_ Link signed with a victory smile plastered on his face. He looked up at Koni and waved.

Knowing no boundaries, Koni wrapped his arms around Link and hoisted him up in the air to hug him. The small Hylian was lifted into the air at least by a foot, and he nervously looked over Koni’s shoulder to Revali, who rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Oh, Link! I’m so glad that I was able to see you before Revali kicked me out!” He spared the small blonde man by placing him back on the ground. The tall Rito leaned down to whisper into Link’s ear, just loud enough for Revali to hear, “Watch out. He’s in a bad mood.”

The Hylian laughed and shrugged, as if to tell Koni, _isn’t he always?_

Koni chuckled back and looked over to the angry ave on the other side of the room. “Well, I’ll stop pestering you, Revali. I’ll take my leave.” He turned back to Link to warmly say, “I hope I’ll get to see more of you before you two leave.”

Link nodded in response, and waved goodbye to Koni as he left. After their elder was gone, he walked over to Revali to sign. Possibly because he still wasn’t a hundred percent sure that Koni wasn’t going to turn around and decide to stay instead. _“What was he pestering you about?”_

“Nothing.” Revali sighed, thankful that his feathers were retreating to their natural positions. “It was nothing. Let’s just make that blasted salmon risotto already.”

  


Later that night, they were getting ready to get to bed when Link suddenly exclaimed, “Oh! I al-almost f-forgot.” The Hylian grabbed for his back to search for something. After a few moments, he successfully pulled out two pieces of candy. “I..um. I got th-these from the mer….merchant, too.” He walked to Revali to hand him one of the candies before he sat himself down and popped the candy he had in his mouth.

Revali eyed the treat in his hand. It looked like it was a small sphere and was wrapped in blue foil, and he twisted the foil off to see a pink hard candy in the wrapper. Using two of his fingers he picked it up and put it in his beak. It was sickeningly sweet, but he kept it in his mouth anyway. “This is good. Thank you.” He lied.

Link smiled. “I’m glad you li-like it.” Revali watched Link as he laid back down in his hammock and move around to find a good spot. He was facing Revali, so the Rito could watch him smile and say, “Goodnight, Revali.”

“Goodnight, Link.” The avian replied, unable to take his eyes away from the Hylian as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. For several minutes he admired Link; how the moonlight never failed to highlight his perfect features and how he looked so peaceful in his sleep.

Using the lantern on his nightstand for light, he grabbed another pencil off of his bedside table and his diary from where he had last hid it to quickly write another entry.

 

_He’s even more gorgeous when he sleeps._

 

After writing, he put the book back where it was, shut off the light, and went to sleep.

  


\---   

 

Three days later, the two champions were back at Hyrule Castle, readying themselves for their next task. It was early morning, and Revali seized the opportunity to write more in his chambers.

 

_After spending so much time with Link the last few days, I’ve found myself daydreaming a lot more. I still can’t believe this, but I keep imagining the two us...getting married._

_Seeing Koni and Kezul be so disgusting with each other only made it worse. They’ve been married since before I was born and they still are head over heels for each other. They still would do absolutely anything for each other._

_I want that with Link. I want to share a life with him like that. Although, the fact of the matter is, I only know how Rito marriages work. I have no clue how Hylians are wed. I know the two methods are vastly different, but I can’t recall what they’re like._

_If...If I’m ever lucky enough to even be loved by Link as I love him, I wonder what we would do then if we got married? I hope Hylians don’t have some strange tradition, otherwise I will refuse to take part in any of it._

_Though, maybe for him I would…_

 

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and a familiar soft voice spoke on the other side. “Revali, may I come in?”

Caught off guard, he jumped and clumsily shut his diary and stuffed it under his pillow. “Yes, of course. Come in.” Mipha promptly opened the door at the go ahead and stepped inside. “What do you need?” He asked, trying his best to keep any sharpness or harshness out of his voice.

The Zora girl slowly walked further into Revali’s room, and just like before, sat down on his bed without asking if it was alright. She looked to the floor, sighed, and then lifted her golden eyes to look at Revali. “I wanted to apologize.”

The Rito blinked. “What for?”

Mipha closed her eyes and hung her head as she softly spoke. “When I approached you about Link, I said some things I shouldn’t have and I acted very harshly towards you. That was wrong of me.”

Revali’s questioning eyes softened as he looked her over. The apology was obviously genuine. “No, it’s alright. Everything you said was true. I was being a fool. I’m sorry I treated you all like that.”

The Zora’s eyes opened back up as she looked to Revali. It was clear that she was very surprised that he had forgiven her that easily. “Are you certain it’s alright? I was so-”

Revali interrupted her. “Yes, I assure you it’s fine. I was wrong and you were right to say those things to me.”

A small smile graced Mipha’s small lips and she looked back to the ground before she continued. “I’m glad that you two are close again. Although, it’s unfortunate that it had to happen through such violent means.”

“Yes, I’m glad we are, too.” Revali said simply.

They sat together quietly for a moment before Mipha stood up. “Anyway, I’ll leave you to it. Make sure to be ready by this afternoon.” She started to walk towards the door.

“Of course.” Revali replied, but then something had come to mind. “Mipha?” He started to ask, causing her to stop in her tracks and turn around to look at him.

“Yes?”

“I have a question about Link.”

“What is it?” She asked, though there was a bit of worry on her face.

“Has…” Revali swallowed. “Has Link ever talked to you? With his voice.”

Mipha blankly stared back at him, yellow irises searching the Rito’s face, perhaps looking for some sort of hint as to why he would ask something like that so suddenly. She looked up at the ceiling, thinking. “I heard him say something when he was very young once. Other than that, no. He’s never said anything to me before.” Her eyes lowered down to Revali’s face. “Why do you ask?”

Revali’s heart stopped. Link had known Mipha almost his entire life, and he only heard him talk _once?_

“No reason.” He said. “Just curious.”

“Alright then. I’ll see you soon.” The Zora girl said as she left the room and made an effort to very gently shut the door behind her.

If Link had only spoken to Mipha once, then it was clear that hearing Link’s voice was more special than he had hoped. Maybe Link did consider their relationship to be as special as he had? Maybe Link felt the same? Maybe there was a chance….

Revali started to pull his diary back out to write, but his hopeful thoughts stopped when Mipha’s voice from a few weeks ago echoed in his mind.

_“You’re a fool, Revali. If you keep this act up, you’ll only end up alone.”_

_You’ll only end up alone._

_Alone._

_Arrogant. Prideful. Impudent._

_Alone._

_Useless. Hopeless. Replaceable._

_Alone._

 

Revali held his pencil in his hand for at least fifteen minutes, just staring at the paper in his hand before he added on to the entry he had written before Mipha came in.

 

_….either way, I don’t deserve Link._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyyy wanna scream at me about how awful this fic is??? Hit me up on my mcfreaking [ tumblr. ](http://zzariyo.tumblr.com)
> 
> this...chapter..is almost....7,000...words...alone.....and i basically...wrote it all in one day...


	13. Impending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revali starts having nightmares.  
> Whether they are just random dreams or ill omens, he isn't sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to [ nebulousroyalty ](http://nebulousroyalty.tumblr.com/) on tumblr and [ kazzyhira ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kazzyhira) on ao3 for all their help!! They both proofread for me like the tubular ppl they are and kazzyhira helped me fill in the holes I didn't know how to fill. Thank you guys so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was a single sharp, piercing, blue eye staring through the blackness. There looked to be nothing except for that one eye, but the darkness that surrounded Revali felt heavy and alive; like there was something moving around him that he couldn’t see. Nothing directly touched him, but he felt as if he was being crushed by something vast and all-powerful. It felt like invisible tendrils were wrapping themselves around him and contracting; attempting at squeezing the life out of him. He struggled to breathe, trying to pull away  whatever was hurting him, but only felt something similar to mist through his fingers. As he tried his best to find a way to relieve the pain of lacking air, that eye kept staring at him; it glowed hauntingly, and it flickered much like the eyes of the familiar ancient Sheikah machines.

 

_ “You think that you worthless mortals have the strength to kill me?”  _ A voice spoke to him from the darkness with a thousand voices, rattling Revali’s soul. Then whatever it was that spoke from the emptiness let out a sound that could only be described as a laugh, even though it sounded more like a blood-curdling roar if anything. “ _ You are weak. Useless. Meaningless. You mortals cannot expect to take down an ethereal being such as I.” _

 

The Rito continued to squirm, trying to find a way to get out of his captor’s grasp. Through strained breaths, he managed to choke out, “You are only making a fool of yourself. Underestimating your enemy is foolish!” 

 

Again, the being hiding in the dark laughed. “ _ Do you really consider me your equal? A feasible foe? I always forget how amusing you mortals are.”  _ Suddenly, the voice that had surrounded Revali shifted, and instead spoke right behind him in a singular voice. The voice was deep and somehow smooth, though in a way it was even more terrifying. It was impossible not to hear and feel the malice that hid in the voice. The feathers on his neck stood on end. “ _ It’s true that in the past I have been beat. Sealed. Defeated. But now?”  _ The darkness chuckled. “ _ Now I am more powerful than I have ever been. I am a god.  I think it’s about time that we change the tide a little; to rewrite history and go against the fate the Goddess has written. Don’t you?” _

 

The mysterious blackness clenched tighter onto Revali, making him gasp. Ganon continued to chuckle in his ear. “Link will beat you! He has done it countless times in the past, so he can easily do it again!” Revali said through his harsh gasping for air. 

 

 _“Oh, Link you say? Yes, he has beaten me many a time. However, something tells me that luck might be on my side this time around.”_ The massive blue eye that had been staring intently on Revali came in closer. The flickering blue took over his entire vision and was the only thing he could see. Then the eye blinked, and when it opened it revealed images that made Revali’s heart sink.

 

It was Link, crumpled on the ground, a bloody mess. His clothes were torn apart and caked in dirt and blood. Crimson was seeping through a large gash he had on his stomach, creating a puddle in the grass mixed with the rain falling from above. 

Revali could see Zelda running to him to hold him in her arms with tears in the corner of her eyes. He couldn’t hear what she was saying, but it was clear that she was trying her best to be hopeful for Link, trying to help him hold onto life. 

 

Link coughed, blood shooting out of his mouth as Zelda could only look down at him with tears just beginning to fall. She said something, clearly telling Link that everything was going to be just fine; that they were all going to get out of this.

 

Then, Link closed his eyes and collapsed in the princess’ arms.

 

“No! Link!” Revali screamed helplessly at the image played out before him in the large eye. He squirmed in the clutches of whatever held him, shrieking. “It can’t be true! You’re wrong! He can’t die- I won’t let it happen!” The Rito was unable to hold back the tears that flowed as he wailed out to the nothingness.

 

_ “How can you be so sure, Revali, Champion of the Rito people?”  _

 

The eyeball that played the images of Link’s impending doom blinked, retreating back to the flickering blue it had worn earlier. That was when orange and red lights suddenly flashed on around it, revealing a disgusting, deformed creature wielding a cannon. The hideous being slowly rose its arm, aiming the canon that glowed blue at Revali.

 

“ _ You won’t even be there to prevent his death.” _

 

There was a blinding flash of light, and all Revali could feel was his body being blasted into oblivion. 

 

For a split second, he could see his own blood starting to pour out of him before he collapsed and gave in to the vast darkness that enveloped him.

  
  


\---

 

Revali woke up with a start. His feathers were drenched in sweat, and he was gasping for breath. His blankets were all over the place; a sheet was tangled around his legs and his top blanket was crumpled on the ground next to his bed. He brought his hand to his chest to feel his heart pumping so hard that he could feel it with his fingers, and his throat felt so dry that it hurt when he tried to catch his breath.

When Revali’s heart calmed down and his breath went to normal, he realized that someone else was in the room. He turned his head to find Link right there, standing on the side of the bed with his face contorted with worry.

Unsurprisingly, Revali’s feathers ruffled slightly as he tried to speak. His voice was hoarse due to its dryness, so he coughed before he was able to stutter, “L-Link? What are you doing here?” 

“You were sc-screaming in your sl-sleep. Pr...Pretty loudly.” Link’s eyebrows furrowed deep with concern. “Had to s-see if you were al...alright.”

Thank Hylia for that wonderful voice; it helped Revali calm down and let go of the fear the nightmare gave him.  The edges of his beak curled into a soft smile. “I’m fine. Thank you. It was just a nightmare. It’s nothing you have to worry about.” 

“Wh-What was it about?” Link innocently asked.

But Revali couldn’t tell him. He couldn’t tell Link the horror he saw. When he looked into those blue eyes, all he could see was the image of Link on the wet ground with his life leaving his body along with his crimson blood. He couldn’t tell him that now he could feel an immense sense of dread and foreboding doom begin to plague his mind and soul. He couldn’t tell him that he wasn’t sure if his counterfeit confidence could hold anymore, as his dream made him realize his, Link’s, and everyone’s terrifying mortality.

He wasn’t going to worry Link like that. That would be cruel of him.

“I actually don’t remember.” Revali uttered as he turned away from Link to face the window on the side of the wall. He could see the landscape that stretched out into the horizon; the plains of grass, the woods, the hills, the mountains. 

He couldn’t help but imagine it all shrouded in darkness.

Revali could hear Link nervously hum, so he slowly looked over to see the knight staring at his hands, which he was holding and fumbling with. “I th-think...you were ca-calling out my name?” Link muttered almost inaudibly. 

With feathers rising further, the Rito tried his best not to stutter and make his anxiety obvious. “I was?” When Link only nodded in response, he continued. “I’m sorry about that.” Revali nervously chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, noticing how tangled his unbraided hair was and instantly felt embarrassed at how much of a wreck he probably looked.

Link quickly shook his head. “No. I was ju-just...re-really wo-worried.”

“Well, there’s no need to be worried.” Revali opened his arms as he said, “I’m alright, aren’t I?”

The Hylian meekly smiled. “If you s-say so.” He started to walk backwards, keeping eye contact with Revali. “Um, I’ll be at th-the train...training gro-grounds if you need me.” 

Revali nodded. “I’ll see you down there shortly.” The ave watched as Link’s smile shone just a tad brighter before he turned on his heels and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

With the confirmation that Link was gone from the door clicking shut, Revali heaved a loud sigh. Did he  _ seriously  _ have to scream out to Link in his sleep? That was so pathetic. And of  _ course  _ he had to be in such a state of disrepair- he only wanted Link to see the very best of him and he just saw the very worst.

He stretched his wings and twisted his back until his spine let out a crack. As he lazily got out of bed, he heaved another loud sigh. His feet dragged behind him on the way to his vanity, where he could fully see the extent of his horrible appearance.

His navy and maize hair was a disheveled mess; so much so that it was basically a large bun of tangles. Slobber was crusted on the edges of his beak, and his feathers were stuck out and flattened in various areas of his body. And, of course, his eyes were bloodshot, but that would be less obvious after he put on the warpaint he wore everyday.

Revali opened one of the drawers of the vanity to take out a brush. He was about to tear through his clump of hair when he saw himself in the mirror again, and found himself looking deeply into his own emerald eyes.

  
  


“ _ You won’t even be there to prevent his death.” _

  
  


The hairbrush tore into his hair, failing to untangle the mess and instead ripping out several hairs.

  
  


\---

  
  


It was no more than two weeks before it all happened; before Calamity Ganon finally assumed control of the Guardians, Divine Beasts and all of Hyrule. At this point, Revali had been feeling the weight of the reality of the situation, unlike before where he foolishly saw it as an opportunity to prove himself. Each day his shoulders grew heavier as the nightmares kept returning night after night, and they would play over and over again in the back of his head if he was alone for too long. If he was unable to shake that awful sense of dread, he could almost feel the tendrils slithering around him again, reminding him of the inevitable.

Every time he looked at Link, he could only recount what he had seen in that nightmare. The lightness he had felt in his heart whenever he saw Link smile was replaced with a harsh heaviness whenever he saw him instead. The butterflies in his stomach had left, only leaving an ache from his awful anxiety of a possible future. When he helped him with his archery, all he could think was “ _ what’s the use?” _

It was a good thing that Revali had gotten so good at acting over the years, because it was clear that nobody felt the sickening fear he had and he didn’t want to make anyone worry. Everyone just carried on as they had for the last several months just like always, while he felt himself slow down from stress and lack of sleep. Each night the nightmares were getting more vivid, so he found himself avoiding sleep like the plague. 

He was suffering and trying to keep up his ego like everyone expected of him, but it was getting too hard.

He was so tired.

 

It was barely even dawn then, with the fierce oranges and reds of the sun only just crawling their way through the dark sky. Earlier it was Revali’s turn to take over watch for Link, but Link had refused to return to bed and instead stayed up with the ave and sat beside him on the log that lay on the edge of the campsite. 

For a while, the only sound that could be heard in the Champions’ campsite was a chorus of soft breathing from the sleeping women and the bellowing snores of the large Goron that was curled under a nearby tree. There was also the wind that whistled through the trees, bringing in a brisk, cold air that shook the Hylian knight but had no effect on the Rito. 

The freezing zephyr caused Link’s teeth to loudly chatter. Revali looked to his right to see Link visibly shivering like a newborn deer. “Is it seriously  _ that  _ cold?”

“Y-Yes.” Link was able to mutter in between the clattering of teeth. “Yes i-it is.”

“Just go to bed, Link. Try to get some rest before we have to leave.” Revali said. “You’ll be more warm in your bed since it’s close to the fire.”

There was a moment of silence before Link said a simple, “No.”

“ _ No?  _ What do you mean  _ no? _ ” The Rito looked to the Hylian next to him, eyebrows furrowed. “Just go to bed. You’ve been up for a while.”

“No.” 

Now that Revali was looking at Link, he noticed that his eyes were drooping and it was terribly obvious that he was having a hard time staying up. “For Hylia’s sake. Look at you! You’re shivering and you’re ready to fall over at any second. You have no reason to stay up. It’s my wa-”

“I wa-want to be with you.” Link said, finally turning his own head to look at Revali who was staring back at him with wide green eyes. 

“Huh?” Traitorous navy feathers started to stand on end.

“I...I want to be w-with you.” The Hylian’s sapphire eyes flicked to the ground as he curled his arms around himself in an attempt to keep warm.

Revali started to nervously chuckle, tossing his head away from Link. “Well, if you wanted some alone time with me, you could’ve just  _ asked.”  _ Getting only silence as a response, the avian looked at Link next to him in the corner of his eye just in time to catch him scooting closer to him. 

_ Is this really happening? _

Revali’s body moved on his own; he was too busy monologuing in his head to realize that his arm rose from off his lap and wrapped over Link’s shoulder to pull him closer until after it happened. Link jumped and let out a surprised grunt when he suddenly was pressed between Revali’s side and wing. The red that appeared on the Hylian’s cheeks and ears was hard to miss, and he kept his gaze to the ground even when his blue eyes opened wide.

“If you refuse to get warm by the fire, then I...can at least keep you warm myself.” Revali let out a deep breath and his eyes flicked around nervously. “Then we both can be happy.” With his free hand, he anxiously rubbed the side of his face.

If his dreams really were an omen of what was to come, then he had to spend as much time as he could with Link before it was too late. He had to find the courage inside of him to show his affections for Link and to tell him how he felt instead of just...doing something like  _ this  _ out of the blue.

He was very bad at this.

Revali was kicking himself at his stupidity when he felt Link relax, nuzzle further into his side and pull on his wing so that it covered his body more. Of course his feathers puffed out, and he gritted the edges of his beak together to keep from sputtering like a complete moron.

“Th...Thank you, Revali.” Link quietly said, nestled in Revali’s feathers. 

“You’re...welcome.” The Rito muttered as the hands that were rubbing at the sides of his face lowered to rub into his neck instead. 

“You’re really w-warm.” 

“Um. Thanks.”

They sat there for some time, watching warm colors spread further out into the sky that was growing brighter each moment. Link’s head rested on Revali’s shoulder and his body grew heavier as he leaned further into the Rito. The navy ave looked over at Link. He clearly was fighting the urge to sleep, considering his eyes fluttered to try and stay open. 

The longer Revali looked into Link’s eyes, the more he remembered how mangled Link’s body was in the dream. How those sweet blue eyes had turned murky and blank. How his soft, flushed skin resembled that of a blank sheet once he had finally let go. The thought was enough to cloud fear over his judgement as he held himself back from nearly smothering the Hylian under his wings in an attempt to hold him. 

He could only imagine himself in Zelda’s position. What would he do if he could spend Link’s last moment at his side? And just what could he possibly do or say that could save him- even if it would just be a vain effort?

“Revali, I-” Link tiredly said, slightly muffled by the feathers he was cuddled into before Revali interrupted him.

“Sh, it’s fine.” He hushed. “Just try to get some sleep, alright?” He pulled him in closer with his wing, and adjusted it so it acted as a warm, feathery blanket. It didn’t take long until Link was clearly asleep; his soft breathing telling the ave that he succumbed to the fatigue he had tried to ignore.

As Revali sat with Link under the warmth of the embers of the nearby fire that brought a red tinge to the Hylian’s soft cheeks, he only wished for the moment to last forever- outlasting whatever threat Ganon could throw at the two of them as they thrived through the presence of each other. He felt his eyelids begin to fall when he felt the gaze of another piercing through him. A sudden touch of a hand against his feathers caused him to jolt. When he felt Link stir, he nearly shushed him as Koni would do with him as a hatchling. 

After Link settled, Revali looked over his shoulder to see a tall Gerudo woman standing next to him; her form highlighted by the sun rising at her back. “Sav’otta.” Urbosa greeted quietly as she nodded to him. 

“Ah, Urbosa. Good morning.” He replied back sheepishly, embarrassed that she witnessed Link essentially cuddled into Revali. The moment he was sharing with the knight made him forget of the others and their presence.

“I was going to go fish for breakfast. Would you like to come with me?” She asked, walking around the log so she could stand facing the Rito.

He looked to her and then motioned to the sleeping Link on his arm without a word.

Urbosa’s green eyes moved to Link and she smirked. “We can help him back to bed. He’ll be fine.” Her eyes flicked back to Revali as she said, “Besides, I want to talk to you about something.”

Revali gulped. “Oh.” He didn’t want to leave for two reasons; he didn’t want this wonderful moment that he was sharing with Link to end, and he was terrified of whatever it was that Urbosa had to talk to him about. Nonetheless, he agreed because he knew that she make him go with her anyway. “Alright. Sure.”

Urbosa strode over and crouched in front of Link. She reached into Revali’s arm to gently shake Link’s shoulder. “Link.” She cooed. “We’re going to move you back to your bed, alright?”

The Hylian responded by slowly shaking his head further into Revali’s feathers and grumbled. 

“Sorry, Link.” Revali whispered. “She’ll get mad if I don’t obey her.” He helped Link back onto his feet as he stood on his own, and the Hylian slumped into him while he walked him to his bed and helped him in. “I’ll be back soon.” Revali pulled the blankets over Link, who nestled into his bed as soon as he laid in it.

The Rito sighed as he stood up. Walking away to grab his bow and quiver to sling over his shoulder, he eyed Urbosa curiously when he saw her waiting for him on the path without a fishing pole. Rather than questioning her, he only walked over to her and they began their stroll to the lake. 

 

That night they had camped in the woods next to Lake Kolomo, so Revali and Urbosa followed the path that led out of the woods and into the open area that turned into the large blue water body. They could perfectly see the ending of the beautiful sun rise as they were walking  out of the large cluster of trees to the East towards the lake.The sun was just starting to find its place in the sky; the warm colors the sun had previously spread out were pushed aside to make room for the bright blue of the late Spring sky. The birds had already woken up for the day, gracing the two companions with their songs.

For the last few weeks, beauty such as this made Revali feel bittersweet. Fearing that everything around him would come to an awful end soon ruined everything for him.

They had been walking in silence for a good while, and Revali might’ve been able to enjoy the beautiful scenery before them and let it soothe his anxiety if he hadn’t felt Urbosa constantly looking over at him; staring at him and smiling.  Eventually, he got sick of being stared at and violently turned to her to growl, “What?”

Urbosa tilted her head and grinned in response before turning her head forward again to give an answer. “So were you ever planning on telling him?” 

He stopped in his tracks to ask, “Tell who what?” in an annoyed tone.

Urbosa halted a few paces ahead with her back facing him. She slowly turned her head around to look him in the eyes. “You know I know,” she said with a mocking grin. “You know I know you’re in love with Link.”

The Rito warrior instantly jumped in the air and let out a quick squawk from shock. He tried to reel himself back by furrowing his brows, managing to stutter, “I- I don’t know wh-what you’re talking about....” His feathers ruffled up and he began to sweat as Urbosa lifted her eyebrows and leaned closer to him. “I don’t even know how you could have came to that conclusion! Link is an idiot! A poor excuse for a knight! His skills are laughable and he….he…..” His incessant squawking trailed off. Urbosa leaned even closer, hands on her hips and her eyebrows raising up farther. 

Revali gave in. He could deny it all that he wanted, but there was no use fighting it. For Goddess’ sake, it was stupid to ignore the fact that he was probably extremely obvious, with his feathers and incessant sputtering always giving him away. He had tried his best to keep his reactions to Link’s presence to a minimum, but it was no surprise that he had failed to trick Urbosa into thinking that he was only friends with Link and nothing more. Frankly, he should’ve expected her to pick up his feelings for the Hylian. Revali was an idiot for not realizing that he couldn’t fool her with her sharp, observant eyes.

Daruk? Definitely.

Mipha and Zelda? Maybe.

Urbosa? Of course not.

He let out a heavy, angry sigh before muttering, “Fine. You got me.” The Rito gave her the most intense death stare he could muster in the flustered state he was in at having been found out. “You win. Do you want a prize?”

Urbosa threw her head back and laughed before beginning to walk forward again. She tapped her head as he said, “it’s all thanks to woman’s intuition.” When Revali rolled his eyes and groaned, she chuckled and added, “Not to mention that I literally saw you two cuddling with each other.”

Revali let out a flustered scoff. “We were  _ not! _ ”

She shrugged her shoulders, shook her head, and said, “Although, it was already painfully obvious before that adorable display of affection. Honestly, if you were trying to hide it with that attitude of yours, you weren’t doing a very good job at all.” 

Revali glared at the Gerudo woman beside him. While his eyes studied her smirking face, he ran through all of his memories, trying to find a moment where she could have seen his true feelings for Link shine through. All the times at the beginning of it all when he found himself smiling at Link; longingly looking at him when he thought nobody was watching. All the times that his feathers probably gave him away, even when he would smooth them down as fast as he could. All the times he sputtered and squawked over the slightest compliments from Link, and how he promptly would make fun of Link instead of simply thanking him like a normal person. All the times that Revali was writing in that dreadful diary of his and would frantically hide it when someone appeared around him.

Oh.

Oh no.

She hadn’t snooped around and found that diary, had she?

“Now I have to ask why you haven’t ever told him and why you try your very best to hide it instead.” Urbosa said, pulling Revali out of his thoughts. “I figured a confident Rito such as yourself would have no issue getting whoever you wanted under your arm.”

Revali held his beak up to the sky, and tried his best to confidently state, “Because a Rito warrior such as I has no time for romance. It’s just a hindrance and a distraction. Also, can you imagine what that would do to my reputation?” Goddess, what kind of ridiculous lie was  _ that? _ “I don’t want all my adoring fans back home to be disappointed with me at falling in love with some useless, puny Hylian.” He felt the tall Gerudo woman beside him burning holes into his head, waiting for him to confess the truth. 

Urbosa must’ve decided to let this one slide, because all she did was shrug her shoulders and shake her head again. “If you say so.” She smiled and continued to walk beside him in silence.

 

They finally were nearing the shore of Lake Kolomo; the lake’s shore was made of small gray pebbles that the water gently sloshed into with every wake. The space was so open that they could perfectly see the surrounding landscape including Dueling Peaks, and even as far away as Death Mountain in the distance. The rising sun started to do its job, bringing the two its warmth from the cold morning air with its rays. 

The Rito took out his bow, getting ready to shoot the fish his arrows could reach. He preferred to fish this way as it gave him some extra practice and he most certainly didn't have the patience to wait for a fish to decide to nibble on a hook. 

While he was aiming for the first fish he saw, Urbosa interrupted his focus. “So, you never really answered my question.” She was sitting at the edge of the water cross-legged facing her companion. Now it was clear that she was in fact not there to fish, but just to be unbelievably annoying.

Revali groaned and threw his wings in the air in defeat. “I guess not, Urbosa! What even was the stupid question again!?” He screamed to the sky.

“Were you ever planning on telling him? Confess?” She slowly said, head resting in her hands. She drew out the word  _ confess  _ in a patronizing tone.

Right.  _ That  _ question. He let out a big sigh, and lifted his bow back up to ready a shot. “No, not at first.” He let go of his bowstring, shooting an arrow through the air and into the water. It successfully pierced the body of a salmon. “Then I decided that I might be able to…” He grabbed another arrow to repeat the same process. Ready, aim… “...after this is all over.” Fire. Another successful shot. 

This was somewhat true. Before he started having the nightmares, he had decided that the best course of action was to confess after everything had settled and they didn’t have the whole world to worry about. Though now, however, he could feel time running out. The knowledge of Calamity Ganon’s ever-growing power was eating away at him, and something was telling him that he had to do it now, as soon as possible. 

But he couldn’t. He was weak. And both him and Link didn’t need another distraction to keep them from doing their job as Champions. 

Urbosa watched him ready and shoot several more times and walk into the water to retrieve the fishes he successfully shot. After giving him the gift of silence for a minute, she took it back by asking the same thing he was asking himself in that moment. “Why not tell him now? Before everything?”

The Rito had been bent over, picking up a fish he had hit with an arrow when she asked this. He shot back up, splashing water around his legs, holding a fish barely clutching onto life that was weakly wiggling around in his wing. “I don’t know, Urbosa! Are you here to _fish_ with me or to _interrogate_ me?!” He angrily shrieked.

“Revali….” She calmly cooed his name. Urbosa had such a motherly air to her that Revali almost instantly pulled back from his tantrum. Before answering, Revali picked up the rest of the fish he had shot out of the water and over to the shore. He threw the dead fishes in a heap close to Urbosa and plopped down in front of it, getting ready to pull out the arrows of the seven or so fish he had caught so far. 

“ _ Because,  _ Urbosa. That would distract him and I, and frankly, we have a job to do right now.” He ripped an arrow out of a fish with a sickening  _ squelch _ . “I don’t want to put Hyrule in jeopardy over a ridiculous crush.”

“But, Revali, what if something happens before then?” Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to gain eye contact with the Rito sitting next to her to no avail. He was looking down at the fish, working while avoiding her eyes.

The abominable images brought to him in his sleep crawled back into his mind. 

_...And something will. _

“Well if something were to happen, I would be dead and wouldn’t have to worry about it.” He muttered under his breath, mostly to himself.

Urbosa sat up straight, eyes wide. “How can you say that? That’s not like you at all. You're always so confident, especially in your abilities. I wouldn't have ever imagined that you could think failure was a possibility.” The only response she got for a few moments were squelches from the carcasses of fish before Revali could answer her. She, thankfully, remained patient and waited for him to respond.

_ Failure, huh? Try ‘the end of the world as we know it’. _

“I...I  _ am _ confident in my abilities. I’ve been training hard and developing my skills every day since I was a hatchling.” The Rito turned his head to look at Urbosa, finally making eye contact. Urbosa had a slight look of surprise when she was met with eyes that looked frightened...even terrified. She had never seen him like this before. He hesitated before he continued, but felt the truth being sucked out of him by his tongue. “I...I just have a feeling that it isn’t enough.” For the first time in years, his fake ego began to crack in front of someone, but truthfully he was glad it was Urbosa out of anyone in the group. She was a hearty and strong woman, but she treated everyone like a caring mother would; it just took him a few months to realize this about her. 

He took a few shaky breaths before setting aside the last fish and looking out into the water, watching it shift and flow, watching the sunlight sparkle on the top of the lake. Revali had tried for so long to keep this act going and to act like nothing was wrong, but this was just too intense to hide with yet another sour act. The crippling fear he'd been trying to ignore was surfacing.

“Oh, Revali.” Without hesitation, Urbosa leaned towards the Rito, and wrapped her arms around him tightly. Being shorter than she was, he was surrounded with her warmth and compassion. He sunk into her warm body, and found himself wrapping his wings around her as well. Never in a million years  would Revali think he would allow Urbosa to do something as heinous as this, though he had to admit that if he need anything right now, it was this. 

She stroked the feathers on his head softly, which otherwise would have pissed him off to hell and back, yet it was so soothing that he didn’t mind at all. He felt tears stinging the corners of his eyes, but he had some strength left to hold back from crying. That would be too weak of him to break down in Urbosa’s arms.

They stayed like that for what felt like hours, but eventually Urbosa broke it up to look the Rito right in the eyes. Everything that Revali was afraid of and all the things that plagued his mind had drifted away in those moments being held by Urbosa, but they came flooding back when she made the mistake of opening her mouth. “Now listen. We are going to beat Ganon, and we are all going to survive unscathed. You  _ will _ be able to tell him after this all is over.” She gently shook him. “I promise you.” Noticing the tears that still hung to Revali’s eyelids, she tenderly wiped them aside.

_ No. You’re wrong. You’re so wrong.  _

Revali blankly stared at her for a moment before cracking a small, fake smile and stood back up, facing the water again. He wanted to believe her, he really did. He wanted to believe that everything was going to be alright, but everything pointed to it all falling apart. To them failing.

“Right.” Urbosa followed suit and stood up as well. He curled one of his wings to bring to his mouth to cough into. “Er...thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Revali quickly turned to the Gerudo and pointed a feathered finger at her accusingly. “If you tell  _ anyone _ about this, you are  _ dead. _ You hear me, Urbosa?  _ Dead. _ ”

Urbosa chuckled in response. “Yes, Revali I get it.” She looked over at the small pile of fish, and said, “Although I think we may need a few more fish. This isn’t quite enough.”

Revali grunted, grabbing his bow and aiming it at another fish in the water. After a few moments, he asked, “Why would you want to help me with all of this anyway? It’s not like I’ve ever done anything for you.”

She chuckled. “Because we’re frien-” She stopped herself and started over again. “Because we’re  _ family _ , Revali.”

The blue avian abruptly stopped, and looked over his shoulder at Urbosa who was watching him with a warm smile from the shoreline. He said nothing and continued his fishing.

_ Family, huh?  _ He had thought to himself.  _ That’s the perfect way to put it. _

  
  


\---

 

_ Urbosa knows. For how long I’m not sure, but the idea of her noticing my affections towards Link over the last several months makes me uneasy.  _

_ She tried to convince me to confess to Link. I would if I could, but...I just can’t. I know that I’ve made myself appear as a very confident individual, but that doesn’t make me fearless. And one has to have a serious lack of fear to confess a love such as mine. _

_ I certainly would like to, but I am not sure if I can find the strength within me to do so, especially since I have been so awfully tired as of late. Those dreams still haunt me even when I’m awake, and they cloud my mind with worry and fear.  _

_ It’s true that they could just be dreams and nothing more. But, I can’t help but believe they are omens. Warnings. Reminders that time is running out and we have to act fast. _

I  _ have to act fast. _

_ Although, if it’s true that everything will only end in catastrophic failure as my nightmares tell me, then what would be the point? What would be the point of telling Link my feelings? _

_ I’m not sure if there is one. _

_ I’m just so tired of everything. _

 


	14. We Looked Like Giants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After overhearing Mipha and Zelda talking to Link, Revali decides that he has to confess before Link has to go to Mt. Lanaryu with Zelda.  
> But when the time comes, he isn't sure if he can do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that this one took so long and ended up being much shorter than the last couple of chapters!! I was having a really hard time figuring out how to write a scene, so i ended up just making it a diary entry instead. also...sorry it's written so...dramatically....  
> The name of the chapter comes from a song by Death Cab for Cutie of the same name, but it has nothing to do with the song aside from that

Revali still had his soft down feathers then when Koni had calmed him down after a nightmare for the first time. He was a bright blue puffball with massive, sparkling green eyes that made all the adults fall in love with him instantly, along with the happy-go-lucky air he had about him in his early years.

During this time, Koni had been in charge of Rito Village’s small orphanage that housed only a small handful of orphaned children along with Revali, who had been abandoned by his parents. Kezul had been away on business, so Koni was sleeping alone in the bedroom that was across from the room lined with beds for the little ones to sleep. 

It was this one night in particular that he had been woken up by gentle nudges accompanied by the sniffles of a child.

His eyes fluttered open to see a tiny Revali, barely tall enough to look over the bed, much less reach up to wake the older Rito. Tears hung at the edges of the hatchling’s eyes, and it was obvious that he had been crying for a while. 

Koni slowly sat up in bed and tried to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes before he looked to the young child and asked, “Revali, what’s wrong?” He raised his massive wing and brought it over to smooth down the child’s head feathers that had ruffled up in his sleep. 

Revali opened his beak to speak, but a small sob escaped instead, which made his tears start again. “I’m...I’m sorry, Koni..” He cried. “I didn’t want to wake you up, but…” He rubbed his eyes to try and get the tears to stop but they still kept coming. Even back then, he hated showing weakness.

“It’s okay, sweetie.” Koni cooed to the hatchling before him. “Did you have a nightmare?” When Revali nodded, he reached down to pick him off the ground and onto his lap. “You’re very brave for coming to me. That must’ve been very scary to walk down that hallway by yourself at night.”  
Revali nodded again. “Yeah...it was.” 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Koni asked. “It might help, but you don’t have to.”

Revali went quiet for a moment, deciding whether or not he wanted to relive what he had witnessed in his dreams. Eventually he opened his tiny beak after sniffling, and his quivering voice uttered, “I can’t remember much, but...it was dark. There was this big blue thing, and there were all these voices and…” He tried to hold back another sob, but it broke out and the tears started flowing again, no matter how much he violently rubbed at his eyes. “I don’t know...it was just...it was just really scary and I don’t understand and-”

Koni interrupted his babbling with a soft  _ shoosh  _ and held him close to his chest. As he cradled Revali, he started to brush his head with his free hand. “It’s alright. Everything is okay now, Revali. You’re safe.” The large Rito began to rock the crying hatchling in his arms, humming and singing to him. Revali nestled further into Koni’s feathers.

It took a while to calm the young boy down, but eventually Koni was successful at stopping the sniffling and sobbing. He continued to hum for a few minutes and looked down to see the green eyes trying and failing to stay open. “Better?” Koni softly asked. 

Again, Revali weakly nodded. 

“Alright, time to get you to bed then.” Koni started to say as he got up, and recieved little grumbles of protest and a tiny head cuddling further to his chest as Revali gripped tighter to him. The purple Rito looked down at Revali and softly chuckled. “Oh, I guess not then?”

“I want to stay with you.” A small voice whined, muffled by the purple feathers that Revali had dug himself into. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Koni softly smiled down at Revali. “Sure. You can sleep with me if that would make you feel safe.” He twisted around to set Revali down onto the bed next to where he had been sleeping earlier. When the boy found a good spot to lay, Koni laid back down beside him and pulled the blanket over the both of them. He had expected Revali to keep his distance from him, considering that at this point he still wasn’t quite comfortable with Koni yet, so the elder Rito was surprised when the child immediately cuddled back into him when he finished situating himself in the bed. 

“Th-Thank you, Koni. I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“For bothering you. I’m sorry I woke you up.”

“No, it’s my job to take care of you all. There’s no reason for you to apologize. It’s alright. I’m glad you woke me up. I wouldn’t want you to be awake and scared all night.”

“O-okay.”  
“If the nightmares come back, don’t be afraid to wake me up again, okay?”  
“Okay.” There was a pause, and Revali burrowed further into Koni. “Goodnight, Koni.”  
“Goodnight, sweetheart.”

  
  


\---

  
  
  


_ This evening, on my way back to my room after taking a bath, I overheard Zelda and Mipha talking while passing Mipha’s room. I know that eavesdropping is incredibly childish and far beneath me, but it was hard not to when I heard Zelda say my name as I walked by. _

_ She and Mipha were rambling on to someone else in the room over how they should tell me something, whatever it might be. From the way the two girls paused as they spoke, it made me wonder if Link was the other person they were talking to, and I was proven correct when Mipha addressed the other person in the room by name. _

_ I had no idea what they were talking about, and what Link apparently needed to tell me, until Zelda said something along the lines of “it’s obvious he feels the same way.” And then they went on to saying how he shouldn’t expect me to say something first. _

_ I nearly molted at hearing that! Could it mean that Link feels the same way as I do? Could it be that my feelings are requited after all? I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but it certainly seems like it could be a possibility. _

_ Tomorrow we are going to see Link and Zelda off at Mt. Lanaryu. If I can get a hold of myself then, I will finally confess to him….since he probably won’t himself. Partially to show those two girls wrong and that I CAN tell him first, but mostly because it needs to be done. _

_ Despite the nightmares, I want to tell Link. I want him to know how I feel, even if it all could end soon. _

_ I love him. I love him so dearly and he has a right to know. _

_ Here’s to hoping that I can find the strength to tell him. _

  
  
  
  


\---

 

It was sunrise again, although this time the sky was coated with thick, dense clouds unlike the sunrise several days ago. The bright light emitting from the rising sun was strong enough to color the nimbostratus clouds glorious shades of red and orange. The light started to spread throughout the landscape, but it took longer to reach into the small canyon created by the surrounding highlands that held the Lanaryu Promenade where the Champions had gathered. 

Link and Revali had been sitting on top of the old ruins then, with a large waterfall loudly flowing beside them while they quietly sat and watched the sun do its daily performance. The building they were perched on had fallen to ruin; the arch they sat upon had a large chunk missing, and the columns around them were falling apart and covered in vines and other flora trying to take over the structure.

Nearby Urbosa was sitting with Zelda’s head in her lap, stroking her light blonde hair, whispering encouraging words to her with Mipha and Daruk close by. They had been caught up in their own conversations, so they paid the other two off to the side no mind.

The sun rising in the East started to make their shadows big then; causing the shadows to extend from their bodies and become massive on the stone cliff behind them. It made them look like giants then, even when they had felt so small. 

Together they were staring at Mt. Lanaryu, with all sorts of things running through their minds. Revali knew that the Hylians were going up to visit the Spring of Wisdom, hoping that it would help Zelda wake up the holy power she had inside of her. 

Zelda was clearly tearing herself apart over not having the powers needed to defeat Ganon when the time comes, and he couldn’t blame her. That must be so much pressure for her, and she seemed to be the only one of the group aside from him that the threat of Ganon was taking an evident toll on. Her stress, however, was more apparent the last couple of weeks as she had been especially glum, and it was hard to miss the massive dark circles under her eyes that depeened and grew darker with each passing day. She wasn’t as good as keeping her worry and fear a secret as much as Revali was.

He hoped that the trip up the mountain would have proved successful just as much as the princess, since he also felt time ticking down to Calamity Ganon’s breach. They had almost everything they needed; guardians, Divine Beasts, the master sword….but the one thing they lacked was a princess that had access to the divine powers that Goddess Hylia apparently graced her with. Where was it? Where were those powers that all of Hyrule depended on?

It wasn’t that Revali had anything against Zelda. He liked her and was fond of her company, but she had to figure something out soon or else something terrible was going to happen. Everyone kept trying to convince her that there was more time to find a way to gain control of her powers, but they weren’t sure themselves if there was. 

The Rito could only hope that his dreams were wrong and wouldn’t become a reality; that as soon as she prayed at the Spring of Wisdom, she would be flooded with so much power she didn’t know what to do with. That the puzzle pieces would all come together and that they had everything they needed for fighting Ganon.

But it didn’t look like that was going to happen.

Link’s sky blue eyes were fixated on the peak of the mountain ahead and Revali could only imagine what was going through the Hylian’s mind. Was he as worried as he was? Or did he truly believe that as soon as he and the princess got there, everything would turn around?  
Suddenly Link’s eyes flicked to Revali, who had been glancing at him. Revali nearly jumped at the sudden look, but he managed to retain himself by asking flatly, “Are you worried?” 

Link’s eyes shifted around to gauge how close everyone else was before he opened his mouth and spoke. “Are you?” The knight asked in a hushed voice that sounded flat and devoid of emotion.

“That isn’t an answer.” The Rito retorted, squinting.

With eyes lowering, Link slowly looked away from Revali and to his lap. “W-Would it be wrong if I was?” 

Revali gave a long sigh and shook his head. “That’s not necessarily an answer either. Though, no. It wouldn’t be wrong if you were worried.”

The Hylian started to fumble with his hands, twirling his thumbs in a circle as he let out his own sigh. It took a few moments before he whispered. “I th-think I am. But isn’t that wrong of me? I’m Z-Zelda’s appointed knight, so I have to believe in her.” Keeping his head down, he looked at Revali. “Don’t I?”

Revali held eye contact with Link for a moment, studying the emotions hiding behind the blue. The rest of Link’s face didn’t give it away, but there was fear deep in his eyes. Perhaps Revali had been so focused on himself the last couple of weeks that he had failed to notice how the knight had been feeling.

“Being unsure that her powers will awaken at the spring doesn’t mean you don’t believe in her and think she’s useless.” The Rito frowned. “It’s completely reasonable to be worried. Or scared, even. And that’s fair.” 

_ I would know better than anyone else. _

“Maybe.” Link simply said, resting his hands on his lap before turning his head to Revali to repeat, “Are you?”

The corner of the avian’s beak crinkled in and his eyes moved all over the place except on Link’s face. He considered lying and saying something like “of course not! What led you to believe that  _ I  _ would ever be scared?” But what would be the point on making an empty boast over nothing? Especially over something like this?

“Yes,” was all that he could say. He realized that he made the right choice when Link’s blue eyes shone with something not far from relief, though with a hint of surprise.

“R-Really?”

“Yes, it’s true that I’m a bit worried for the outcome.” Well  _ that  _ was a huge under-exaggeration. He paused. “I feel bad for the princess. We’ve all done our part; mastering the Divine Beasts, gathering and studying the guardians, and you with your sword...but she still hasn’t been able to do hers. Everyone is relying on her to figure it out.” He turned to look over at her, being held by Urbosa who was comforting her and trying to convince her that everything was going to turn out alright. “The pressure is seriously getting to her.” While turning back to Link, he continued by asking, “isn’t it?”

Link’s lips curled into a small frown. “Yeah. Sh-She hasn’t been doing very well. She’s trying to be st-strong, but it’s really hard for her. It’s...hard for all of us.” He looked towards the other Champions close by; Daruk and Mipha sat near the other two women with worried looks on their faces as they talked to one another. Their faces were dark, even when they smiled. Maybe Revali  _ had  _ been too self-centered to notice everyone’s state. Looking at them now, it was clear that they were  _ all  _ hanging by a thread.

Revali was starting to retreat into his own head to ponder this when Link spoke again and brought him back. “Do you think we can do it?” His voice had been quiet before, but this time it was a whisper, and it was shaking, but just barely.

The navy ave sat there in silence for a while and stared at Mt. Lanaryu’s peak, thinking of what would be an appropriate answer. He clicked his beak and took in a short breath. “Truthfully? I don’t know.”

Link whipped his head to look at the Rito, throwing around his dirty-blonde ponytail in the process. The Hylian’s eyebrows furrowed. “Really?” He seemed genuinely surprised for the second time that Revali didn’t have some prideful comment up his sleeve and instead acted sentimental... vulnerable even. 

“I know what you’re thinking. ‘Wow, Revali! You’re always so amazing and confident, but you’re telling me that you’re not sure?!’” Revali said, his voice raising slightly to mimic Link’s. He cocked his head to look at Link, raising an eyebrow. “Right?”

Link only stared at him as a response.

The Rito faced forward again to retreat back into his head and decide what words he could say; what recent dark thoughts would help validate whatever was flooding Link’s mind, and what would only make it worse? His nightmares were of course out of the question, but then what else was there to say? Or should he just be quiet and say nothing?

He ended up choosing the latter, as he was too stuck in his own mind to figure out what to say for many silent moments before Link was the one to speak.

The Hylian let out a couple of shaky breaths as if he was scared to say whatever was about to come out of his mouth. “W-Well, I think we have a pretty good cha...chance at defeating Ganon. Zelda might not be able to w-wake her powers up yet, but oth-otherwise I think we have everything we need. Like you said, we have the Divine Beasts, the g-guardians, the master sword...” He said ‘master sword’ as he motioned to the sword he had strapped on his back and he brought his hand to his mouth. “And everyone here is so amazing. I’m still so honored to have made co-companions with such strong warriors and wonderful people, and I don’t know what I did to d-deserve being around you all...” Link shifted around, biting his lip like there was something else he wanted to add. Revali found the patience within him to wait for Link to finish his thought, and watched him as he looked up from his lap to look back at Revali. 

His eyes were open wide, the blue sparkling like they never had before, and the skin on his cheeks and ears were brushed with pink. His voice was as clear as a bell, lacking the stuttering and mispronunciations that usually laced his words when he spoke. “....especially you.”

Revali could feel his navy feathers flair up and his skin grow ever hotter, but he didn’t want to look away and wave it off as he was prone to do before. He found himself entranced by the look the knight was giving him, even if he couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it meant. All that he could tell was that his eyes became a rushing river, flowing rapidly with whatever thoughts and emotions that were coursing through his mind. And all that he knew was that his fair skin had been coloured cerise, to hint at whatever he had been thinking.

Was it true then? Were Revali’s feelings truly requinted? Or was he grasping for straws in hopes of an outcome he wanted? 

Was this Link’s way of confessing, or was he merely just flattering Revali?

Was he reading too far into things?

Was Revali being a lovestruck fool?

What was he supposed to say? What was he supposed to do?

He didn’t know. He didn’t know what the right thing to do would be, so all he did was study Link’s face and the way that those eyes of his shone. How the rising sun painted his face with magnificent colors and highlighted all of his perfections. How his eyes were staring into Revali’s soul, sucking the life out of him.

He never wanted to look away and he never wanted this moment to end, but end it did. Revali wasn’t quite sure how it happened, it could’ve been out of habit, but he found himself mindlessly turning away to let out a scoff and say, “I don’t know either.”

Link was silent for a second before he laughed that beautiful laugh of his. 

“I don’t! I don’t know how someone as clumsy and hopeless as you ended up in my awesome presence.” The Rito chuckled, though he was angry at himself for ruining what could have been the perfect moment he had been asking for.

“You don’t really mean that!”  The Hylian continued to laugh, and as it died down he said, shrugging his shoulders and grinning,  “I know you think I’m pretty fantastic.” 

“You wish.” Revali grinned back, still chuckling. They continued to laugh with each other for a few moments, but it soon faltered back into silence as they both went back to gazing at the peak of the nearby mountain. The light that came with that moment disappeared and was overcasted by the dark mystery of what awaited them in the near future.

Again, the usual thoughts that the avian tried to keep in the back of his head came back. Were those dreams a telling of the future? Was he going to die? Was  _ Link  _ going to die? How much more time did they have left together if something terrible was going to happen? The nightmares he had flashed in his mind to remind him of what was at stake.

If he  _ was  _ going to die; if something  _ were  _ to happen, how much time did he have left to tell Link everything? Was this going to be his last chance?

Something told him that it was.

Revali found just enough courage inside of him to hold onto for a fleeting moment, just so he could begin to say what needed to be said. He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh that ended up being heavier than he predicted. His body twisted again to face the Hylian sitting beside him as he choked out, “Although...if...if something were to happen, there’s something that I want you to know, Link.” He finally was ready to confess after countless, painful nights of thinking about Link. He finally was ready to admit to Link the feelings he tried to conceal for so long.

 

_ I love you. _

 

But when those stupid, piercing eyes looked at him, he was left frozen and still. Link had leaned towards Revali, all of his senses focusing on him. But he was left speechless and unable to move, as if that cursed pair of blue orbs turned him into stone. Again they stared into his soul, watching, waiting for Revali to speak. They had a look that could have been described as hopeful, maybe even demanding in a way, but now the courage the avian thought he had held onto vanished between his fingers and he was left with only cowardice.

Such is life _ ,  _ he supposed.

The Rito stammered, “...you really were meant to be the hero and I’m sorry if I ever made you feel different.”

Link blinked, and suddenly that twinkle his eye was gone and left only an empty azure. The Hylian’s posture that had previously made him look attentive slumped just enough to be noticeable. “Oh.” He blinked again and shook his head, seemingly trying to shake off what Revali knew now was disappointment. “No, it’s alright. You...You’ve never made me f-feel that way.”

_ I’m such a coward. _

“Are you sure?” Revali questioned.

“Yes.”

Revali failed. He was the best archer that ever graced Hyrule, he could create his own updraft, and hell, he piloted a massive, ancient machine like it was nothing. Hylia granted him immeasurable talent and skill; so much so that he could do anything he could possibly put his mind to. Except, of course, confessing his feelings, even when he was given the perfect chance to do so. 

What was wrong with him?

_ This could be your last chance to ever say something to him, and yet you got cold feet and chickened out? Pathetic. _

Again, Link pulled Revali out of the dark recesses of his mind with his voice, which was blurted out of his lips with a sense of urgency. “Revali, I-”

“Link.” Zelda nearly shouted all of a sudden, staggering the knight and archer. The two young men threw their heads to see the princess now standing, her hands balled into fists and her eyebrows furrowed. She stared at the ground intensely with determination flickering in her green eyes. Whatever Urbosa said to her made her ready to face what awaited for her at the Spring of Wisdom. “I’m ready.”

Link and Revali both stood up off of their perches on the top of the ruins to face the princess, who stood with a strong, hard stance. The Rito looked over to the Hylian companion he had been sitting next to to watch him nod and step forward toward the woman he served. 

  
  


The other four Champions escorted Link and Zelda to the East Gate of Lanaryu Road. The sun was still fairly low in the sky, as it hadn’t finished rising yet. Because of this, all six of the companions had massive shadows stretching behind them, swallowing up the light a far length behind them. 

When they came to the arched stone gate, falling apart and covered in flora, they all collectively came to a halt under the arch. Zelda hesitantly walked further to the other side of the gateway with Link trailing behind. From the other side, she turned around to face her friends with the monstrous mountain as a backdrop; the peak, the two Hylians’s destination, being shrouded with thick clouds. 

The princess turned around fully to get a good look at her companions before going to what she believed was her, and all of Hyrule’s, last chance. She took a shaky breath, trying to compose herself, while she tried to valiantly say, “I’ll see you all later.” As she said this, Link stepped to do a half turn to look behind him as well.

Sapphire met emerald as Link and Revali held an intense gaze with each other while the other three Champions looked at the princess to support her.

“Don’t worry, princess.” Mipha’s sweet voice rang to the other girl of royal blood. “Just remember what we told you.”

“Believe in yourself!” Daruk bellowed, grinning while holding up a fist.

“And don’t forget,” Urbosa said, putting her hands on her hips and smiling at Zelda. “This isn’t your last chance.” 

Not looking away from Link, Revali gulped, clicked his beak before speaking. “This isn’t the end.” Whether he was saying it to Zelda, Link, or to himself, he wasn’t sure. Either way, both the princess and the knight both gave him a small smile.

“Thank you.” Zelda tried to hide a wanly expression behind her smile, but her eyebrows and lip quivered. “Thank you all.” She took another shaky breath before stepping to turn back around to face the path to the mountain. “I will see you all later today.”

Link took a couple of steps backwards next to the princess to hold eye contact with Revali for only a few seconds longer. Though when he did finally turn around to join the princess, he looked over his shoulder a couple seconds more.

The look they held was knowing; at least, that’s what Revali thought. He felt like the look they gave each other said more than any words the both of them could ever possibly tell each other. Something not short of longing, not short of wanting to hold the other and say that everything will end up fine. 

But they both had been cowards then.

And so on went the two Hylians to the spring, leaving the other four Champions waiting and twiddling their thumbs uselessly. 

  
  


\---

 

From up on Vah Medoh, Revali wonders if things would’ve ended differently if he would’ve just  _ said  _ something then. If he wasn’t such a coward and just confessed his feelings and thoughts.

It had been so clear that it wasn’t unrequited. And Link, of course, wasn’t able to do it, so he should’ve just done it himself.

But he didn’t. And he instantly regretted it.

And he still does.


	15. The Beginning of Their End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ganon wakes.  
> Revali and Link have a moment together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha bad

 

“Revali.” Urbosa said in a harsh tone, maybe even on the verge of yelling.

Revali had been scribbling frantically in his diary, The Diary of Revali the Rito Legend, when he heard the Gerudo woman calling out to him. He lifted up his head to look at her to see that it was clear she had been saying his name for quite some time before he finally heard her; her lips were pursed and her eyes were narrow with impatience.

The Rito gulped as he slowly set the diary aside along with the pencil he had been writing with. “Yes?” He said in a voice more hesitant and soft spoken than he was used to using.

The sky again was a painting of oranges and reds as the sun fell; it was nearing twilight and it was just a bit worrisome that the Hylians still hadn’t come back from their trek up the mountain. To be fair, it was a long ways away, but what if something had gone wrong on the way there? It wasn’t like Revali didn’t trust Link to protect both himself and the princess, especially after all that they have been through, but it was hard not to worry about his- er…. _both_ of their safety.

They had been left alone to their own devices for so many long hours, and Revali had spent most of it by himself. The others had tried to get him to join them before, but not as blatant as Urbosa was.

“Calm down.” Urbosa told Revali with the voice of a strict mother. “You’re making us nervous.” She gave him a smile. “Don’t be a stranger. Sit over here with us.”

The Rito blinked at her. “Oh. Sure.” He had been perched on a large boulder on the side of Lanaryu road, parallel to where the other Champions had been sitting.The others were watching him while he stuffed his journal and pencil into his knapsack, so he felt inclined to hurry along.

When he got to the group, who had been sitting in a sort of semi-circle, he sat next to Urbosa who was patting the space next to her. “You know, I never did quite ask.” The woman rose a finger to point at the bag Revali was slinging off of his shoulder. “You scribble in that thing a lot.” Her lips cracked into a side grin, signaling that she was growing dangerously curious. “Could it be a diary or something?”

Again, Revali blinked at her before furrowing his eyebrows. “Not that it’s any of your business, but yes.” Fearing that the Gerudo woman was going to steal his journal from his knapsack to read it (not that it would matter if she saw what was in this one), he grabbed his bag to move it to his other side. “Writing calms my nerves sometimes.”

His three companions looked at him quizzically. “That’s unlike you, Revali. What’s there to be so nervous about?” Daruk prodded. Urbosa and Mipha looked to Daruk and Urbosa rose her eyebrows at him. When the Goron noticed the look he was giving her, his eyes widened. “Ah, don’t tell me you’re _that_ worried about Zelda. Even if it doesn’t work, we still have some time to figure something else out!”

“That’s right. You don’t have to worry yourself so much, Revali.”

To Revali, it sounded less like they were trying to reassure him and more like they were trying to reassure themselves.

“If her powers don’t awaken at the spring, then I think I might be able to help her with them,” Mipha began. “I know that my healing ability can’t even be compared to the divine power that has been given to her, but there must be some similarities.” Her golden eyes gazed somewhere else as she reminisced about something or other it seemed. “I might not be as much help as her mother would have been, but I could still try. Perhaps what helps me and my powers could help her…” Mipha smiled to herself and she blushed slightly. Revali eyed her questionably as she looked up to see everyone was looking at her. She jumped and chirped, “Ah! My apologies. I’m sorry for rambling!”

“It’s fine.” Revali said a bit too gruffly.

“You weren’t rambling at all!” Daruk chuckled, and patted her back hard enough that she jumped again and gasped. “Now you’ve made me curious. What is it that helps you with your healing? You’ve never told me much about how it works.

Revali squinted at Mipha as she sputtered. “Well, I...um..” Was all that she could get out before she was interrupted by Urbosa.

Urbosa had suddenly looked up, with her eyes flicking back to the East gate. “They’re back.” She uttered, and at that, everyone hurriedly got up from their seats and made their way to the gate.

The setting sun at their backs shone through the gate, creating a path of sunlight for the princess. Zelda was watching her feet as she walked, with her eyebrows furrowed, and she was biting her lip in a way that made it clear she was trying her best not to cry.

That wasn’t a very good sign.

The Champions stepped forward to meet them, and even when Daruk spoke to her, her watery eyes still stuck on the ground. “Well? Don’t keep us in suspense.” The Goron spoke with a face full of worry as he followed the princess when she walked a few more paces ahead. “How’d everything go up there on the mountain?” He asked, even though the answer was clear.

The princess stopped, and she could only close her eyes and shake her head as a response. Perhaps from fear that if she opened her mouth to speak, only sobs would come out. But even without words, everyone knew what that meant. Her powers didn’t awaken, and so their plan became futile.

It was so quiet yet so loud. They all could only stare at her with the air growing thick with a indiscernible sense of foreboding.  
It seeped its way into Revali’s heart, and he could feel it gripping and squeezing him. He was left breathless with her answer.

That couldn’t be right. _Something_ must’ve happened. Maybe she was joking? Maybe she was wrong and something did happen, but she didn’t realize it? Maybe she realized she had her powers all along, just still wasn’t sure of how to properly use them?

Even with all sorts of thoughts plaguing his mind, Revali somehow was able to push them aside for a moment and he took a step forward. He didn’t want to know the answer, but he still hesitantly asked, “So you didn’t feel anything? No power at all?”

Zelda’s hazy green eyes looked to his for a quick second, but they avoided his gaze and immediately fell back to the ground. Ashamed, she hushly said, “I’m sorry. No.”

Off to the side, Urbosa was seen staring blankly for a little while while she, Revali suspected, gathered herself in this dark moment to be the voice of confidence to settle everyone’s worries. “Then let’s move on.” She firmly stated. Her voice softened while she moved closer to Zelda and said, with a hand going to rest itself on her hip, “You’ve done all you could. Feeling sorry for yourself won’t be of any help.” Urbosa then twisted her body to look towards the mountain the two Hylians had come from as she went on, attempting to comfort the princess. “After all, it’s not like your last shot was up there on Mt. Lanaryu.”

_But it very well could have been._

“Anything could finally spark the power to seal Ganon away.” The Gerudo woman still continued to calm everyone’s uneasiness, especially Zelda’s, but to no avail. “We just have to keep looking for that...thing.”

There was a heavy silence for an agonizing moment before Zelda whispered, “that’s kind of you. Thank you.”   

Mipha was looking at Zelda with a terribly solemn expression when she got the Hylian princess to tear her misty eyes away from the stone path by saying, “If I may…” When Zelda’s wide jade eyes reached the Zora’s face, Mipha went on. “I thought you....” She timidly stepped forward and smiled. With eyes moving up and down from the ground to Zelda, she said, “Well, I’m not sure how to put this into words…I’m actually quite embarrassed to say it, but I was thinking about what I do when I’m healing. You know, what usually goes through my mind.” She looked back up to Zelda to urgently say through her stuttering, “It helps when I think- when I think about-”

But the ground suddenly began to quake violently as a deafening rumble was heard from off into the distance. Everyone was thrown off of their balance then, stumbling around and trying not to fall off their feet from the tremors of the earth.

What could that have been?

It...It couldn’t be…

_No._

_No no no._

Everyone turned vigorously towards the source of the noise, fear gripping their hearts, since it was inarguable what it had come from. Though inarguable or not, Revali still had to see for himself if their assumptions were presumed correct; if what he feared more than anything was really happening.

As he took to the air, he prayed to Hylia that it wasn’t what they had feared. That it was just a simple earthquake and they had more time.

More time to actually prepare themselves for Calamity Ganon, so that it _wouldn’t_ be inevitable that they would fail and…

But no.

From where he was, he had the perfect view of Hyrule Castle when he got to a high enough vantage point. He could only let out a gasp when he saw it.

Hyrule castle was shrouded and orbited by a thick black mist with streaks of red. From above was a cyclone spiraling in the air with crimson lightning striking out from its eye. The worst part though was Ganon himself wheeling around the castle, with glowing laguna eyes.The beast made of smoke, darkness and malice reared its head as its massive jaws opened to release a ear splitting, blood curdling, bone chilling roar that again quaked the earth.

_No._

_No no no._

_No no no no no no no no._

It was happening all too fast.

_Why couldn't we have more time?_

Revali didn’t have to tell everyone what he saw when he returned to the ground. They could tell and didn’t need his affirmation to be sure.

“It’s here.” Urbosa said, somehow managing to remain composed even at the appearance of Hyrule’s imminent doom.

Daruk clenched his fists, standing tall and strong even now. “This is it then.” Revali looked over to Daruk after he said this. Their eyes met, and he furrowed his brow as he nodded to his companion, trying to stay calm as he was able to confirm what he saw without any words.

Mipha next to Revali was trembling slightly in fear when she asked, trying to keep a steady voice, “Are you sure?” even though she already knew the answer and needed no confirmation.

“Positive.” Revali uselessly replied, twisting back to face towards the colossal spectre that awoke from its slumber.

“It’s awake…” Zelda breathlessly quaked. “Ganon.”

The black mist streaked with an electric red was spreading throughout the sky; they could see it drifting towards them from above the highlands that created the canyon they were in. The sky was darkening and lightning struck from the mist.

Revali could almost hear Zelda’s mind shatter. She stumbled around as if she forgot how to stand, and her breaths became loud and raspy. He could see exactly what was racing through her mind just from looking at her glassy eyes.

_‘I’ve failed. And because of me, all of Hyrule is doomed.’_

But there was nothing that could be said and done for the poor broken girl, and Daruk smashed the air thick of horror and despair by bellowing, “Let’s stop wasting time! We’re gonna need everything we got to take that thing down!” He directed his words onto Zelda, even though it was for everyone there, in hopes to break her out of her trance.

When that failed and Zelda was still fixated on the sky, the Goron turned to his other companions to shout, “Now Champions! To your Divine Beasts! Show that swirling swine who’s boss!” Daruk looked around at his companions with a hopeful look on his face. “Link will need to meet Ganon head on when we attack. This needs to be a unified assault.” He swiftly turned to face Link. “Little guy! You get to Hyrule Castle.”

Revali looked away from Link. It hurt seeing everything unfolding, which would all result in what he saw most every night for the last several weeks.

“You can count on us for support, but it’s up to you to pound Ganon into oblivion!” Daruk clamored at Link, again gripping and holding up a fist.

Zelda was still standing there, white as a sheet and still as stone, when Urbosa came to her to put her hands on her shoulders softly. “Come. We should go. We need to get you someplace safe.”

Zelda ripped herself from her daze after murmuring, “no.” She tore away from the Gerudo’s hands to spin around towards Daruk. “I am not a child anymore! I may not be much use on the battlefield… But there must...” Her gaze faltered down to the road beneath her as she said this, but then she threw her head back up to Daruk, her face warped with utter desperation. “There must be something I can do to help!”   

But there wasn’t.

There was nothing she could do.

There wasn’t anything _anyone_ could really do now, was there?  
Revali’s stomach churned.

  
  
  
  


It was time for everyone to part ways; the Champions were to go to their Divine Beasts to help aid Link during his fight with Ganon. The other three Champions were just starting to leave for their homelands for their machines, but something had stopped Revali and kept him from moving.

He knew this was it. He knew that this would be the last time he would ever see Link again. He knew then that those nightmares he tried to push aside and forget during his waking hours were real.

 _“Why?”_ Was all that he could ask himself when he somehow managed to find enough strength within him to weakly take a few steps forward towards his destination. The corners of his beak wobbled as he gripped his wings into a fist.

He knew what was coming. Ganon himself, he suspected, had already told him what was to come, but how could he ever be ready for this?

How could he possibly ever be ready to die?

How could he accept the fact that Link, his closest friend and the one person he would do absolutely everything for, was going to perish?

He was stuck in place, staring at the sky as it became overcast with Calamity Ganon’s dark influence. A part of him wanted desperately to say his last goodbyes to Link. To just say something, _anything,_ before they were forced to part for the very last time.

Although a louder, stronger part of him told him to just leave and not look back. It told him that looking into Link’s beautiful eyes and knowing that he would never see them ever again would be so unbelievably painful. Perhaps more painful, if it was even possible, than it would be if he would just fly away and leave everything behind him.

A war broke out in his mind over what to do, but his body remained motionless while the world carried on around him and the dark mist continued to roll in.

Suddenly he felt someone grab his arm. Revali gasped and whipped his head around to see who grabbed hold of him.

It was Link, of course, looking up at him. The eyes that usually were so blue, like a clear blue sky, had become cloudy. They were full of what could be described as a mournful yearning; yearning for Revali to stay with him a moment longer before they had to go their separate ways.   

“Revali.” The Hylian said in a haunting voice, the tone echoing the look his eyes held.

Revali stared at Link for a short time and then twisted his head around to pull away from his grasp. “I..I have to go.” He choked on his own words. Everything hurt when he pulled away from the one he loved to open his wings to fly away.

He couldn’t say goodbye. He had to go. He couldn’t do this.

But that stupid little Hylian grabbed onto him again, but more forcibly this time. “Revali.” Link repeated again, more desperate, more desolate than before.

And again, Revali tore himself away.

Why did Link have to do this?

“Stop!” The avian shouted after he broke free and tried to escape once more. But when he managed to get a few inches in the air, Link dragged him back down to the ground.

This was torture! Why couldn’t he just let him _leave?_

Revali spun around to face Link head on, but he immediately regretted it when he could feel his eyes beginning to water. “What?!” He screamed, his voice breaking. “What do you want?! What could be _so_ much more important than-”

That’s when it happened.

Link interrupted the ave’s words by swiftly reaching for and grabbing Revali’s face, pulling it down towards him. Before Revali had time to think, Link leaned forward, closer to the Rito’s face, and planted his soft, pink lips on Revali’s hard, maize beak.

The Hylian’s lips were so warm against the avian’s beak, sending and spreading warmth throughout Revali’s body that had become so rigid and cold.

This was the moment he had been waiting for; the moment where they both could unleash their true emotions and finally be honest for once. The moment where Revali wouldn’t be so terrified of telling the truth.

Maybe it wasn’t the best time.

But it was their _last_ time.  

Too many emotions, feelings and thoughts swirled inside of Revali to the point where he was afraid he was going to burst. A bittersweet happiness began to bubble inside of him, making him feel like he was going to float away. It was clear in that instant, dreadfully clear, that Link had the same feelings for him all this time.

Then there was the feeling of knowing that as they were about to give in to their love for each other, it wouldn’t even last long.

Revali was going to die.

Link….Link was going to die.

Why did Hylia have to torture him like this? Why did she hate him?

Link broke away and gazed up at Revali, both of his hands staying on his face and cradling it. His lips shakily curled into a smile that was somehow both sad and happy. The wind that blew caused his dirty blonde hair to drift and flow, his bangs moving in and out of his face.

Gods…

He was so wonderful.

Revali’s emerald eyes fell and drifted to the side while he tightened the corners of his beak at an attempt to control himself and the typhoon of emotions fiercely spiraling inside of him. “L-Link, I…” He faltered. “...I love you.” The words fell out on their own without him even realizing.

The Hylian, who still peered up at the Rito in front of him, widened his smile and his eyes crinkled. He let out a solemn chuckle. “I love you, too.” Link answered, his voice clear like a bell as he spoke. The knight that Revali loved, the one that loved him back, brushed his thumb against the avian’s cheek softly, his finger stroking the smooth navy feathers.

Revali opened his beak to say something, though nothing but wavering breaths and stammers  came out. “I...I-I...” Link looked up at him and rose his finger up to the edge of his beak to shush him.

“It’s okay. We can t-talk about it af-after all of this is over.”

Emerald eyes flicked back up to meet with sapphire as he blurted in between weak breaths, “But what if we- what if-” Revali failed to hold in a dry sob, making him unable to properly say the words that were circling in his mind.

Link, still holding that smile of his, rose an eyebrow. “Oh? H-Has the great Revali lost all of his con-confidence and pride?” The corners of his mouth wobbled as he grinned wider.

The Rito only shook his head, making Link chuckle again.

“L..Look at me, Revali.” The Hylian said, and Revali obeyed. “Z-Zelda’s powers might have not have a-awakened, but we can still do this.” He pulled Revali even closer, so that that end of the ave’s beak almost touched Link’s lips. “ _You_ can do this. I know you can. You’re so amazing and st-strong. And talented. And wond..wonderful. There’s not a doubt in my mind that y-you can do th-this.”

At hearing this, Revali’s face relaxed from its clenched state, where he was trying his best to keep his fervent emotions inside.

_Maybe he’s right._

_Maybe we can do this._

_Maybe I was wrong about the dreams-_

_Maybe they weren’t an omen, but a warning of what_ could _happen._

_I can do this._

_We can do this._

Those beautiful and alluring eyes of Link’s convinced him that what he was thinking was true. It was like every doubt in his mind had been wiped away then, slowly bringing him back to his old self. The Revali that was perhaps a bit too confident. A bit too poised.

The stupid and gullible one.

“You’re wonderful, too. Don’t..don’t forget that. I know for a fact that you’ll take Ganon down.” Revali said, voice raw with his sudden conviction that this wouldn’t end in death and failure.

Link blinked away tears that were making an effort to crawl out of his tear ducts. “Th-Thank you.” He sniffled, and he brought one hand away from Revali’s face to rub his own. “We..We have to go.”

“Yeah. Yeah we do.” Unsure of what to do, Revali leaned down to nuzzle his forehead against Link’s, like he had seen Koni and Kezul do countless times. “I love you.” Revali said again under his breath.

Link nuzzled back, rustling Revali’s feathers. “I love you.” The Hylian stayed there for a second before he broke away to meet eyes with the ave. “I’ll see you soon.”

Revali smiled and nodded, then took Link’s hands to hold them in his own. “Good luck.”

“Good luck to you, too.”

They let go of each other’s hands and gave each other a hopeful smile. Revali turned to leave and opened his wings when Link suddenly spoke again.

“I’ll come for you.” He said, making Revali look over his shoulder at him.

Link was standing there in the middle of the path; the sun continued to set despite Ganon’s threat, highlighting Link with beautiful warm colors. The wind blew through his hair, tossing it around. His face was determined then, and he had shifted to hold a more confident stance to suit that expression.

Revali was still for a beat before he smiled, nodded, and turned back around.

And then he was off.

  
  
  


On the way to Vah Medoh, Revali's heart leaped and flopped and dropped and exploded. There were so many emotions flowing through him at that moment. An intense sense of worry, fear, and dread should've been haunting his mind and crushing his soul, as it had been for so long- but instead Link had given him a sense of hope that was overpowering.  
It was so ridiculously _stupid_ that they both had taken so terribly long to confess their feelings- up until the very last moment. Revali was an idiot for not realizing that Link had felt the same way. There had been all these signs that were ignored, but were brought to light while he was zooming through the air towards his Divine Beast.

It all made sense. Everything. And after all of this he could finally be with the one he loved. He was a moron for not seeing it all sooner.

Dark thoughts began to make themselves known, but he easily pushed them away.

 

**T̷͍̈̿ö̶̞͚͔́ö̸̪͆̅k̷̮̦͐ ̷͍͖̉y̶͚̑̿̎ŏ̴͉u̵̢̼̾ ̵͕̟̔̈́l̷̩̾̀̓ͅo̶͙̜͋̚̚ṋ̶̼g̸͈̈̋̔ ̵̨̱̑̈́̕e̵̫̅̎̕n̴͙̏o̷̡͖̺͛u̶͙̲͝g̶̢͉̔̄̂ͅȟ̷̦͍̟.̴̣̺̱̽̒͝ ̷͉̝̄̓̃Ţ̶͙̆o̶̘͔͂o̸͙̒̕ͅ ̸̨̛̄̿b̶̃͊̓͜ạ̸͕̈́d̵͚̙̮̏̒̃ ̷͇͗y̸͚͙͆o̸̪̻̖̓͆͌u̸͍̙͗̃̌'̶̣̮͛̓r̴̡̮̺͛̚è̴͒̚ͅ ̵͚̦̎a̷l͞l ̶̜̗̱͝g̷̰̣̈́͠ǫ̵̛̪̙̒i̷̧̲̜͂̈͝n̶͇̬̒g̷̰̉̊͠ ̶̛̲͌͠ẗ̷̡̖̦́͒o̴̬̿ ̴͎̳̖̀̔d̶͓̜͂͊͒i̶͈͚̖͌̉ẽ̸̱̳͊̾ ̸̦͋ͅa̵̫̳̭͛̚͝n̵̡̍͘͝y̶̧͓̚w̸̱̪̋̐a̴̤̮̣͑y̷̗̮̅̐̇.̷͕͗̚̕**

 

_We aren’t going to die._

  


**H̷̤͔̆̀̍̿̈́̈́͠o̵̟͉͉̙͍̎́͗̈́̄͌͝w̴̧̒̈́̈́̒̚ ̵͙̞̋̅͂̇̈́͆̚͝c̷͇̖̲̣̹̫͇̺̈́̓ẵ̷̳̱̰̫͕̗̀͑̇͝n̸͎̲̻̮̱̿͗ ̵̲̍̽̆ŷ̴̜̭͉̖͚͌̇̑ợ̷̞͊̍̂ũ̶̮͍̠̘͉̓̑̏̏̎͝ ̸̥͕̭͈͎͔̩͕́̇̈́͌̐̍b̴̞͇͎̒̿̐e̷͍̞̖̺͖̬̗̥̐̉̚͘͠͠͝ ̸̛͕͖̪́̄̑̅̇͒̑ş̴̹͂͊͑̎u̵̧̺̝̟̤̜̺̰̐̆r̸̡̛͈̹̈́̓͂̊͝e̶̢̢͗ͅͅ?̷̭͖̜̪͙̥̲̒̃͆ͅ**

  


_Because I won’t let that happen. Because Link believes in me. Because I believe in him. Because I believe in everyone else and I know that we can easily stop Ganon._

 

He could see it in his mind's eye.

After all of this, he and Link will live together. Link could move in with him, or he could move in with Link…. they could live wherever Link wanted. Revali won’t care as long as he’s with him.

  


**B̭̤̪͕̗̣͊̍ͩ̈̚͡u̗ͫͩ̀͊͊̾̐t̙̅͗̐͌̔̚̕ ̺͙̬̗̠̫̟̎̑̅w̓h̴̠̅̎ͧ̾̚a̼̣͂ͩ̊̚ͅt͚̬ͥͧ ͚̠̰̯͉̯̺̉́̍̃̾͂̚a̷̘̳͗b͕͗́̒̄ͭo͈ͨͥ͐̂ͧ̃ù͇͚̤͓͍͂̆̈́ͪͧ̇͢t̬̥̠̻ͯ͆ͮ̆͌̋̓͞ͅ ͍͙̝͕̀ͬ̐̋̇̚t̼̗̤͎̞̺̞ͥ̉̒͆ͤͦ͞h̦̖̩̐̍̒̂̅e͇̬͇̙̜̰̦̅̓̾̋͜ ̮̖͖̞̪̲͗ͧ͂d͙͈͈̳̭͈͔r̠̜ͫͬ͜ẻ̈́͞a̐̄̑͏̘̞ms̜̹͔̞̥̒̎?ͭ̍͛ͯ͗͟ ̸̥̠̞͔̮͕̲Y̟̠̦͍̥͆̾̀̃ͣ̐̚o̟̻̙̜̩͋ͫ̂̅ͅṵ̤̭͔̎͒̓͌ ̣̹̜̰̭̻̐̋̆̓w̩͖͆͐͆ͮ̈́ͮͩ͟e͖͓̻͈r̡̾e̮͕͖͎̙ͯ̊ͥ ̛͈̜̗̹̪͚̉̊̓̈̚s̮͔͖͋ͦ̈ͭ̾̉o̞͂ ̫̗̱̋̄̋̏̒̚å̦̘̭̞̙ͧ̓̍̚f̳̖͆̉͂ͣ̓͂͐ͅrͫͬ͛̏͏̻͉̦̦̲̣a̳͎̹ͫ̑́̒i̡̗̗͖͙͉̓̈̋̆̋ͣ̎d͙̣̱̠̓͋ͫ ̯̼̯͚͊͌ͨ̌͐̉̚o͎͈͓̓̿̿̊ͩ̔ͅf͙͓̰̲̪̜͍͋͗͞ ̪͙̩͒ͧ̎t̝̓ͭh͎̹̫͍̔̏͑̚e͇͍ͫ͐m̸̅̆ ̻͇̏ͯ́ͮb̡̪̙̬͔̮ͮ̋̏ḙ̪̣̩̰̹̞̇͗͛ͭf͍̕o̥ͫ̾͑ͫͫr̴̭̜͍̖̮̯̈e̶̳͍͍̫͖̺̻.ͭͦ**

  


_I’m not anymore._

  


**Ẉ͖̪̘̻̺͎̍̓hͩ̂̅ͭͯͪ͏͈͚̜̣̟̩y̭͓͛̔̓ͣ͊ ̗̩̆ͪͮṉ͙͈̱͋̊̽̅̚o͚̻̭̭̦͑͆t̓̆̒?͖̝̜̤̦̼̔͊ͦ̈́**

 

_I may not understand them and how they are the way they are. But in the end, they’re just dreams._

 

**B̛̦̫͈̣̊̅̆͑̅̇u̡̼̱ͪͧ͐̿t̫̍.̺̇̂ͪ̌͝.̼̟͙͍̠͚̈̂ͦͩ̽͟.̼͇͕̣͈̗͗͒̇͘**

 

_What was in the dreams could be fate, or it could not be. Even if it is fate, I’ll change it. Hyrule will not fall. My companions will not fall. Link will not fall. I’ll personally make sure of that._

 

They’ll sleep in the same bed together and hold one another until they fall into a blissful sleep each and every night. Revali will wake up before Link, able to watch the early sunlight hit his face to reveal his gorgeous features as he peacefully slept every morning.

 

**Y̪̳̌̓̄ͨơ̯͉̬͇͎̇̇̈́̑ͭ̾u͙̼̟̟̓̄ͧ̉̆ͮͦ’̸̖̮̮̟̆r̟͓̞̈́ͧë ̭͕̼̥ͨͧ̅̔͆r̨̤͓̯ͪ̇̚a̙̼̻̮͉̻̯̽͌ͪ͑̃ͫ͝ț̰͍̙̤̌̿̑͑̿͌͞h̬̦̙̥̙͚̹ͩ̔̂̿̅̐͢e̪̦̯̗̊̈́̑ŕ̗̹̜̥̗͉̎̔ c̩͚̥̥̺̐ͨ̎o̸n̫̙͔͕͙͇̻f̼̤͂iͣ̆̔͢d̪͕͈͎͇̰͖͂͐ē͍̳̜̫̘̇̄̃̆̚n̤͔̫̊̒ͤͦ̑t̺̺͚͓̊̋̎͌͜ ̼͇̪̣̬͒̆̃̅̉̅̈a̯̤̝̩͂̈́̂̉̾ͤl͎̙̓l̵̝̣ ̜̥̣̝̞̱͉oͥͩ͒̓ͮ͐͏͖͈̪̲̲̣̭f̜̣ͫ̇̈́̾̌̊̓͜ ͕͕͓͖ͣ̃͞a͔͕͉͉ͬͯ͋̒͞ ̙͕̌s̯̝̮̝͖̜̙ŭ̹̯͉͐͊͑͂̒̾d̻̱̗͈̉̋ͥ̈́̔̔͠ḍ͔̖̼̟̥̈́̀̇̈͛̾ë͇̰̦̟͚́n.̲̠͇̳̖͓̇̃**

 

_How could I not be? The most amazing man loves me and trusts in me. I feel like I can do anything._

 

Every evening they’ll have dinner together. Just the two of them.

 

**C̳̖̼̺̼̫͙alam̠͍͕͕̻̜i̤̖̖̝̪̥̹t̯̤̭̯ͅy͇͔̙̖ ̳̠͈̳̝̗Ga̰̱͈͎͖̠n̯̲̞o͙̖͙͙͈ͅṉ̙͖͍̫ ̲͕͓͔̝̠͇i̱̻̣̪̮ͅs̯̮̝̖̹̘ ͇̣̻to̲̠͓o̠̪͓ͅ ̫̮̮st̙͈r̭͕̞̫on̹g ̻ͅf͚͍̤͓̗̝̬o͍r̼̠͍̝̥͙ a̦̝n̮̻̦y͖o̜͙̮̮̻͉̞n͕͍̼e̥ͅ ̗̳̬͓͍͖̝t̘o ͉̫̰d͇͔͓̦̖e̳f̦͖̠̼̼e̗̳͕̞͍̝ͅat͙,̩̳̞̥̦͎ y͔̞͓̝̗̩o̩̳͚͇̺̘u͕̮̝ ̼̪k̯͉͙̫͎͍̗n͍̰̖o͙͇w̲͍.̟̺̜̳̜͚ ̞H͓̳͔͍͔e̻̺͎̺̳͚̩’͈̝̯̰̝s̯̗̙͙ ̯̼̙͎̜͖gṟ̫̫ͅͅͅo͚͖̬̩ͅw̝̟n̘̙̠ͅ ̞̦t̗̲͈͖̮̬o̥o̬̻ ͍p̦o̱̝w͉̹ͅḛ͍̱̪̜͈̣r̪͕̖̳ful͇͉̱̮͉ ̝du͎rͅi̞̮̗̩̭̝͙n̙g͔̪̼̞̻̥̮ h̫i͍̙̮s͖̮̣̣̪ ̞̥͕t̝̦̳̜̹e̺n̠̳̗̙ͅ ̺͇̰̘͚̫͓t͖̱̬ho̠̮u͙͕̤̲̘̯s͈̺a̫̱̟̩̰n͚͉d y̜e̪̥a͓̪̟r̠͙ ̯͓̗̭͚̪ͅr͓̬̼̣̹ḛ̗͕͉̠s̯̪̗̠͔͚t̠̪̙̻͖̯.̼̞̹̹ͅ ̱͈̮M̫͎̫͖̻a̮y̳͙̥b͔ḛ̤̠ ̫̺̟yo̗͇ṳ̺̳̲̙͍̼ ̩̳̪w̲̞̼̙͖̯͉o̱͇͖͈̖ͅu̖̟̳̺͉͎͖l̦̫̠̻d̹̰ ̭̗͍ͅs͙̠̬ṯ͈̮̜̪͔̳a͚̙n̹͉̹̺͚̖͚d̤̘̠͕ a͕̰ ͎̠̙͔̦̳͖c̘̯͇ͅh̭̥̩͓a͎̼̱̫̮̮̗n͎c̫e̙̳̼̻̳͕̣ wit̝h̳͚̗ ̗ͅZ͕̼͈̹̯̹̙e̤͙͉̘l͇̭̦̫̜̩ͅd̗̺a͎̩̻ͅ’̠s̰̖̼͎ͅͅ ̦̫̙̬̫̳p̳o̙̜͉̥̖͓w̤͓͕̩͉e͕r̫͍,̱͈̭̘̠̤̼ bu͚̮̟͔t͎̱͚̫̪͖͕ ̣̫̻̞̻̘̫y̤̪̗̩͙̹ou̪̘̱̙̦̩ ̜̲̺̯̙̭m̰o͍̗̩͙̳̲̥s̗̠͇͈̖t̩̞ͅ ̭c̘̱͙̭͚̮e̬̳̻̯r̼̳t̪̞̣̜̪ai̮̫͈̠͈̣n͕̙̺ḻ͈̦y̝̯̱ ̞̞̪̟̹d̲̟̹̖̖o̜n̬̳̭̹̣̝’̼̰̺̳̬t͎͓̞̥̘̺͓ ̬̼̞n͖o̹̝̯w͇̣̮̥̞.̯̙**

 

_Yes we do._

 

They’ll make each other laugh all the time. Revali will watch and admire the way Link’s wonderful eyes crinkle while his lips slowly unfold into a smile before he lets go and explodes into laughter, as he always had.

 

**D̼̭͖̺o̰̝͎̣̟͙n͙͉’ț̞̠̖ ͇̼̺̜̝y͓̖o̖̗ṳ̬͙̗̠̰ ̬̘̹̭̖r̹̟̹e̺̭̮̮̠m͉e̲͚̪͎̠m̻̣̪̥b̹̺̬̠e̥̳͇͔̦r̮ ̬̳̰̲w̗͎͉̙̥h̟̘ḁ̪͔t̯̙̫ ̭̲̦y͈̬̜̼͔͈ͅo̞̪̮̩̖̗͕u̺̯͈̜͕̝͚ ͉̻̻̠sa̙w͍͈?̪ ͈̜W͙͎̼̪̮͓͚h͙̝a͍̳̫̹͓̯̺ṭ̻̠̩ ͇͚͚̗͕̗͕y̭̘̰o͙̭͓̠̞͚ṳ͙̤͕ ̭̞͈̪͎̝ͅf̻̩e̦l̩̯ͅt͈̯̗̮?͇͎ ͍̠̗̭̹Y̥̘̲̞̖ou̲̻ s͖a͖̥w̱̫ͅͅ ͙̫̗͕͙̰̹L̺̣̺̺̣i̝̙̺̺͎͕nk̥͙̜̲̯͔ ̱di͔e̼̲̭̰ͅ.͈̰̤̳ͅ Yo͚͍͉̥ṵ̫̯̫̣̼ ̤͇fe̖͎͖̙l͕̟͔ț ̻̰̝̥̥̖y̪o͈͉̜ụ͇r͚̮̳̳̹̟̺se̹̟͈̠l̮͕͉͙̳̦f͙̲̻̜̦ ͈͉d͇̥͉͓͎i͉͖͎̲̤̫ͅe̜̹̲.̫**

 

_I did. But it won’t happen._

 

Maybe they’ll travel around Hyrule together. Go places where they haven’t been to before.

 

**T͖͚̝̦h̰̼̳i̟̣s̼͎̥͇̹̳ ̯͇is͓͙ ̳̲̰̼͇ͅṭ̩͙̪͍h͙̠͖͍͍̫e̹̻͇ ̘̻̯͕̦e̹̩̝̤͈n̯̥̻̯̳d̬͎̲͕̥ yo̼u̱̮̮̘ ̰̭̟k̟͔̺n̼̰o̮w̠̥͚̲̫̦̟.͉̟̗͇**

 

He had been terrified of this moment for weeks; the images from the dreams plagued his mind and his fear terrorized him. But Link had given him hope, and he now believed that this wasn’t the end.

 **͕͉̦̦͍͎** **D̟̫̻̺̫̝͖o̟͍̠͍ͅn̻̰̭̪̦’͉̱̦̝͖t̘̝̣̜͓ ̺̣̟̻̬l̜̫͓̥̳̮i̟̘̳ḙ̫̙̜̜̞ͅ ̲̹̗͎t̮͍̳o ͎y̳̻o̘͙̘̰u̠rsẹ̝͎͔̣l͇͎f͈̯͙̞ͅ,̟̳̺̩̭͇ ̞͉̳R̰ev̗͚̱al̯̤̠̹̝i͔̼.͎͖̹̰̗͙**

  


Him and his friends were going to take down Ganon, Hyrule would be saved and they would be heroes….and Revali would do everything he could to spend every single waking moment with Link.

When Vah Medoh came into view, he looked forward to the bright future that was ahead; the future he was going to share with not only Link, but his fellow Champions...his friends- no, his _family._

He was ready to pilot Vah Medoh and use his Divine Beast to defeat Ganon with the others. The confidence and courage that Link gave him was almost too overbearing. It was like it coursed through his veins, giving him an extra burst of energy to fly even faster than he ever had before. His beak was stuck in a massive grin.

 

  
Though as soon as Revali landed on the massive machine, his heart immediately sunk.

Something….something was off.

 

 **Y͇̦̳͆͋ͮ͞o̥̤̫͇ͅǘ̮͎̘ͅ'͚̲̳ͦr͙̻̲̯͋͐ͬͭ͝e̻͊ͪ̌ ̳͓͕̘̰͗̓͆ͣͅg̺̙̱̔̔͊o̬̻̫ͩ̒ͨͤ̚i̟͕̖̮̹͓̍n̮̲̅ͦg̗̲̱̣̖ ̂ͦͧ͋ͩ͂҉͇͍̼̺̻̙t̮̅̏ͬ̔o̸͇̼̼̠͈̗̊̈̊̌ͯ ͔͈̿̇ͦ͑d̙͍͇̀̌ĩ̺̗͍̩͎͈͙ͫ̄̅̒̾ë̷̝̗**  
  
Something came out of the shadows.  
  
**L̡̤̩̥ͅi͈̮͖͔̗n̷̤̯͍k'̷̳̖̲s ̼̦͞g̲o̯̜͖̥ị̦̳͚͔n̴g̹̜̖̘̥ͅ ̝t̷o̡͈̣̪̝̞̺ ̛̣̳d͔̹̣̲͎̪i̯͔͖̙e̘͓̙̮**  
  
He turned to see something that was hauntingly familiar.  
  
**E͈͈̘̯̞̟̞v͕̪̙̞̖͞ͅe҉̘̱̙̮r̭͞y̜̲͠ͅo҉ne͝ ̥͈͍̜is g̡̫̲͚̟̭̠ͅo̭̦͖̪͓i͚̺n̯ͅg̵ ̝͝to̸̩͎ ̸d̤̠̲̺̮͘i̘͇͘e̟ͅ**  
  
The light that Link had given him dimmed as the thick, heavy, malicious tendrils of dread wrapped around his very soul and tightened. The bravery Link gave him was taken away and replaced with an intense fear that made his legs begin to quake.  
  
**Yo͜u've be͝e̕n hope͏l͝e͠s̶s̛ fr͢o̢m̷ day̵ o͠ne.̢**  


Revali tore his bow off his back as the grotesque creature with a canon welded into its arm roared at him.  


  
  
  
  


  
**_What made you think that had ever changed?_**

  
  


 

 

He stood alone.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao this is what happens when I learn about typography in poetry class
> 
> woooooo one more chapter left, baby  
> edit: actually no there's two left lmao


	16. Never-Ending Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revali faces the creature that haunted his dreams and brought him to his end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooof god gaahh i'm sorry this took so much longer than usual...you know how life can be sometimes  
> Yeah, at first I thought that I would make it 17 chapters, then thought than 16 chapters would make more sense, but while I was finishing this part up I realized that it would make more sense to cut it in half and update the other half when I was done. I'm going right back to writing after I post this so it'll hopefully be up in the next few days!  
> also uhhhh look out we got some f-words and gore and stuff here but what did you expect

At first, Revali had been terrified. His stomach had sunk and he found himself quaking slightly at having the monster that killed him countless times in his dreams standing before him. The one that stared at him intently in the darkness before revealing its hideous form and ending him. He stepped backward and his shaking knees almost buckled under him.

Then he was mad.

He was furious.

Once his fear settled to his stomach and was digested to become adrenaline, only a pure insensible rage rushed through him as he looked up at the creature. He clenched his jaw and furrowed his brows.

That cursed eye….

That _fucking_ eye…

It was staring down at him, the blues whirling hauntingly as it seemed to smile down at him even without a mouth to grin with. It was taunting him, trying to scare him into submission...or _something_.

But that wasn’t going to work.

“So, they weren’t just dreams then?” Revali said out loud, mostly to himself. The fear he had felt only moments ago dried his throat and tongue, so his voice was broken and sounded pathetic.

It was strange how it seemed like the beast seemed to grin even wider, still mouthless. Revali intensely glared at it for a beat, expecting it to say something. But when it hadn’t, he took his Great Eagle Bow off of his back slowly, watching and waiting for any sudden movements.

But it just stood there. Watching.

“Even if you have haunted my dreams and gave me sleepless nights for weeks on end, I’m not afraid of you.” The Rito said in a voice that tried to sound confident and valiant, but it failed when it cracked at ‘afraid’. He swiftly pulled out an arrow and aimed it at the creature in front of him after finding the bravery inside of him that he needed to defeat this monster.  “You’re in my way!” He managed to shout with conviction and an arrow drawn and pointed at his target.

With calculated steps, Revali stepped around his opponent to wait for...anything.

And then it laughed. For a split second, the dread that seeped into Revali’s heart came back when the mouthless creature erupted into laughter. He was horrified to hear that it sounded exactly like the laughter in his dream- a thousand voices rattling together to chuckle, and then rising into a booming howl. Although, it didn’t move at all, even though it sounded like it should be doubling over itself.

There was a huge intake of breath by the time the laugh had finished, and then there was a huge sigh. _“Honestly! You mortals are all the same! So interesting, so entertaining….so endearing.”_ The beast cocked its head, moving closer to the Rito who took a hesitant step back. Again, the voice was familiar. But rather than being thousands of voices, it was that deep and smooth voice that was especially frightening. Was this the voice of Ganon, speaking through this thing? Was it a pawn of his? A piece of him coming to stop the Rito Champion from using his Divine Beast to defeat it?

If so, does that mean….

 _“Your friends all said that same thing!”_ It beamed. _“‘You’re in my way!’”_ It mocked, using a high pitched voice to imitate the other Champions. It again laughed at its own mockery, and when it was done it spoke once more when it noticed Revali’s green eyes go wide. _“Oh, don’t tell me you thought you were special? Did you think that you were the only one with the dreams? Did you think that you were the only one that has a creation of mine to fight? I knew you were full of yourself, but I would never have imagined you were this self-centered, Revali.”_

The others...they had the same dreams he had? If so, the other three had pushed through the fears brought on by those nightmares and kept their heads up, even if it felt like there was no hope in sight. They had done this while Revali was breaking down; losing sleep and losing his mind.

They were strong.

He was weak.

“I’m going to kill you.” Revali spat, not answering the questions asked by Ganon but expressing his anger at himself and at the fact that Calamity Ganon had taken the shred of hope that Link gave him and shattered it into a million pieces.

Another grin. _“Oh?”_ Was all that Ganon was able to utter before Revali flung himself towards the creature and shot the first arrow of many- starting a battle he wasn’t going to be able to finish.     

 

  

For a while, it had seemed like Revali had a fair chance at beating his enemy. He was fast, agile, and his senses were keen, giving him the ability to dodge every single attack and hit every target he aimed for. Both pride and hope flowed into him, fueling his moments and his spirit as he fought. That stupid idiot Ganon was wrong! He was going to defeat this monstrosity, help Link weaken Ganon, and the brave, amazing man he loved was going to take down and save Hyrule!

But then he misjudged how far away a beam was, and so it hit his right wing and blasted it to smithereens.

Then it was downhill from there.

   

 

It was a gods damn miracle that Revali was even able to move at the state he was in; one of his legs were broken, and one foot was crushed while the other had a dreadful burning pain that spread up into his leg. He felt an agonizing pain shooting from his rib cage that told him that some of his ribs were broken. Both of his wings were tattered and torn apart- so much so that he could barely fly, be it with an excruciating and harrowing pain that he could hardly pull through.

His right eye refused to open and it burned like all hell after he had failed to dodge a blast redirected by one of the creature’s drones that hit the side of his face; not to mention that his beak stung and he had felt it crack from that same attack.

His entire body was littered with gashes, all seeping with blood and gore. The parts of him that weren’t covered in red were sore- probably battered with bruises that would color the skin underneath his feathers sickening colors of yellow, blue and violet if he was going to get out of this alive.

Maybe he was only able to move because of all the endorphins and adrenaline rushing through him.

Maybe it was because of the vehement and overpowering rage that erupted inside of him.

 

Revali was fighting with every ounce of strength he had left, even if it was diminishing fast. There _had_ to be a chance that he could take this thing down one way or another, but that small flicker of hope began to falter when he felt a light go out somewhere.

   

 _Mipha…._ echoed in his mind.

   

Mipha was such a sweet and humble girl, and Revali regretted not getting to know her better. He hated her when she barged in to yell at him about how he had treated Link, but it only showed how deeply she cared for her friends and wasn’t the quiet, passive doormat she appeared to be. Revali respected that.

But she was gone now, wasn’t she? That light was hers, wasn’t it? He couldn’t explain it, but something inside of him told him this. If what Ganon said was true, could this mean that she wasn’t able to defeat the monster she was faced with?

 

The Rito, who was weakly flying in the air to shakily ready a shot, was hit out of the air like a measly fly and fell to the ground far below him in a crumpled heap. He landed on his back, hard, and he was left breathless with blood shooting out of his beak. He felt another rib shatter at the fall, and now there was a strange, stabbing pain in his chest.

His lungs punctured, so it was going to be even harder to breathe now.

When Revali was finally able to feebly sit up, he saw that the beast was readying another blast from its canon; so with all the strength he could muster, he rolled to his side.

He felt it when he heard it; he had rolled just far enough to where he felt the intense heat of the laser right behind him through his feathers.  But during his pathetic dodging, he made the mistake of putting too much weight on his broken leg, so he cried out in pain.

Then he felt another light go out somewhere.

   

_Daruk…_

   

Daruk was always too loud and annoying, but he never failed to find the light in everything. When they were in a bad situation, he would always step up to make everybody feel better. And when someone was in trouble, he came rushing to help every single time. He wanted everyone to be safe and happy, always. Revali learned a lot from him from the time they spent together.

But he was gone now.

   

The sight from Revali’s one good eye became hazy and his breath started to grow even more irregular than before. His mind grew misty, and the world around him spun. He was finally feeling the symptoms of going into shock.

_Shit_

He pushed through it the best he could by dead gripping his bow with the foot that hadn’t been blown to bits and by flapping his crushed wings to clumsily bring him up in the air. His opponent looked at him, amused as if it was entertained by Revali’s commitment to fighting even though he was literally falling apart.

He couldn’t even fly. The Rito was stumbling around in the air like a butterfly that was just stomped on, trying to convince itself that it was fine, that it could fly itself to safety before it eventually pummeled to the ground to die.

But Revali couldn’t die. He just couldn’t. That wasn’t an option.

He was about to weakly toss his bow into the air for his tattered wings to grab and shoot, but right when he was about to, the beast violently snatched him out of the air and wrapped its claws on him. The pain of having his broken ribs crushed even more was enough, but the creature tortured him even more by digging the ends of its fingernails into the Rito’s sides, breaking the skin and stabbing him to make even more blood flow.

Revali screeched out in pain when he felt the third light go out elsewhere.

   

 _Urbosa…_ his mind echoed.

 

He hated to admit it, but Revali was frightened by Urbosa for a good while. Although, it was in the way that one is afraid of their mother; afraid to disappoint her and afraid to hear her harsh words of disapproval. He found himself looking up to the Gerudo woman in this manner, and he started to consider her a motherly figure.

She had the knowing eye of a mother, knowing everything that was happening inside of Revali at a glance. She was there for him when he fell apart and put him back together again even when she was possibly going through the same feelings of hopelessness and fear that he had.

But she was gone.

His cries of pain become cries of loss, and while the blood flowed from his wounds and his beak, heavy tears started to flow from his emerald eyes that were dimming as he was losing his will to continue on.

He didn’t want to accept the fact that his companions were gone- how was he to know for sure? Even through his attempts at denial though, something was ringing inside of him telling him that they were dead; as if they all had a connection that had just been severed with the others losing their lives. It felt like a part of him was ripped out from inside him, and it _hurt._

At that moment, Link came to mind.

Where was he?

Was he okay?

And what about Zelda? Were they together? Were they safe?

That big, whirling blue eye looked down at Revali without a word while he writhed around and screamed through his pain. He thought of Link; of the way his lips gently curled into a smile after he had confessed his feelings to him. How his angelic voice confessed as well, as clear as a bell. How his sapphire eyes twinkled like stars even when the world was falling apart around them.

He remembered the way Link stood there in the middle of the path, wearing a determined, but solemn look before he left.

 _“I’ll come for you.”_ Link had said.

 

The creature tightened its grip even more while it made its way to a column close by.

 

_I’ll come for you._

 

Revali braced himself for impact when the beast held him held him high in the air, knowing that it was going to slam him into the stone column.

 

_I’ll come for you._

 

It felt as if every bone that hadn’t been broken already shattered when he finally was thrown into the pillar. The foot that weakly held onto his bow went limp at the shocking feeling that coursed through him, and so the bow clattered to the ground below him.  He would have screamed if he wasn’t left breathless; instead, all he could do was let out a choked gasp that released more blood from his mouth.

_I’ll come for you._

It rang in Revali’s mind over and over, reminding him that he had to survive this somehow. He had to live. He had to be someone that Link could come back to after he succeeded in killing Ganon.

His monstrous foe pinned him against the column, and he could feel his chest beginning to collapse in on itself. The Rito’s damned hollow bones that allowed him to fly and held him together were totally decimated, and it should’ve killed him.

Yet here he was, again clenching his jaw with tears and blood flowing from him while he tried to give the thing that pinned him a piercing glare with only one good eye. He grew ever colder, and it seemed that no matter how big he was able to make his breaths, he couldn’t get enough air.

The only thing that held him together was the need to live.

He needed to live for Link.

He had to.

Somehow.

“What happened to them?!” Revali yelled, though his lack of air made him sound hoarse and pitiable. “What did you do?!”

 _“Ah, you can feel it, can you? You felt them leave this plane?”_ A voice smooth as caramel uttered.

“I said- what did you _fucking_ do?!” Revali tried to writhe around in the huge hand that held him, but everything in him was splintered and crushed, so all he could do was wiggle like a useless, limp worm. “And what happened to Link and Zelda?!”  

A dark chuckle was let out from the creature. _“Oh, Revali. Sweet little Revali.”_ It pressed its hand into Revali even harder, so much so that his weak breaths ceased for a moment and he could only suffocate. _“You already know, don’t you? They’re gone. And the two Hylians will follow you and your companions soon.”_ Again, it laughed as it said, _“I’m very surprised that you lasted this long. I heard that Rito are especially fragile, but here you are: the last Champion left.”_

Revali’s thrashing started to slow while his vision grew blurrier and darker. Even with failing eyesight, however, he saw the bright blue eye get closer to him and envelop his vision. Normally a witty retort would come spitting out of his mouth, but his mind and body were broken, and all he could do was stare dumbly at the twirling ultramarine and sky blue.

Revali didn’t even realize what he was doing until it already happened. He quickly turned his neck, the only thing he could move without excruciating pain, and dug the end of his beak into the hand that was squeezing him.

The creature screeched from being startled and hurt. A black substance oozed out of the puncture Revali had created with his beak, and while he delighted in seeing his opponent in pain, he himself felt the agonizing sensation of using his cracked beak. He had sprayed his own blood on the hand he stabbed, which shot backward and let the Rito go in surprise.

Revali limply fell to the ground like a rag doll and began to profusely cough, crimson escaping his mouth every time he did. The raging beast held its hand and stared back at the crumpled heap on the ground, his eye whirling faster to perhaps show irritation or maybe even anger. _“So, you still have some fighting left in you then?”_

“Apparently I do.” Revali croaked in between harsh coughs and attempted at stretching out his arm just enough to touch his bow that he was sprawled next to. He managed to scoot it closer to him so he could grab it; not that he would be able to use it properly in the state he was in.

The being laughed for a moment, before it spoke. Though this time, it spoke with a thousand voices rather than with the horrifyingly smooth voice. _“I told you. You’re nothing.”_ It let go of the hand that was still spitting out black smoke before it fully turned back to the avian on the ground. _“You all are nothing.”_

Revali fought the pain shooting through his arm and he held onto his bow.

He remembered the first time he ever saw Link; devoid of emotion and feeling ashamed at being mute, but then lit up slightly when Revali said it was fine if he had to learn more signs. It was the first time that he saw Link’s light, and though he didn’t realize it then, that was when he fell for him. Right then.

He remembered how upset he was when Link beat him in a spar for the first time. Link had looked at him with such a smug face, yet worried over Revali’s injuries afterward. He was so kind. So thoughtful.

He remembered the times he snuck glances at Link when he smiled or laughed and felt himself get hot even before he understood why.

He remembered the gleeful, prideful look that Link would give him after he made a successful shot while training him. It was as bright as the sun and it brought warmth to Revali’s cold heart.

He remembered the first time Link had touched him, sending shock waves throughout his body. Revali had felt like he was going to burst at the sudden, gentle touch.

He remembered how it was like his mind shut off when he saw Link practicing his swordplay; he was left paralyzed and admiring his grace, strength, and agility. There wasn’t ever any mistakes. He was perfect.

He remembered that night where he helped Link with his bow. They had been so close; close enough that Revali felt Link’s breath on his feathers and felt the skin underneath turn red.

He remembered when he heard Link’s heavenly voice for the first time. The Rito’s heart had never fluttered like it never had before, and he was left speechless.

He remembered all the little moments he had with Link. The times where they would laugh together, spar with the other, jeer at one another, and even the times where they simply sat in silence enjoying each other’s presence.

He remembered Link’s perfection and how he made it impossible for Revali not to fall madly in love with him.

He remembered Link’s light and how he shared it with Revali- melting the glacier that his parents molded around his heart with his abandonment. He never thought it was possible to feel this happy.

 

Link had taught him how to live again. 

   

Revali turned himself to look towards the beast in front of him and glared as intensely as his body would allow. “I might be nothing...” He uttered in a shaky voice while he tried his very best to sit up.

With trembling arms, he rose his bow to take his last shot at his foe.

“...But Link is everything.”

All Revali could see when he shot his very last arrow was the creature laughing with a thousand voices as it raised and pointed its cannon at him.

Revali finally let go.

 

And everything turned black.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


\--------

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


But then the blackness dissipated and he was awake.

He woke up with a start, his eyes flashing open to see a night sky. The moon was high in the sky, behind dense clouds, signifying that it was around midnight. How long was he out cold? What even happened? He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something felt...different.

That was when he heard the distant screaming from far down below; from Rito Village that Vah Medoh was flying high above.

There was no time to waste; he had to see what it was, so he got on his feet and ran to the edge of his Divine Beast and looked down.

 

Carnage.

Absolute carnage.

 

   It looked like every building in the village was on fire, lighting up the scene of slaughter and displaying shadows onto the massive rock that held the village; shadows of terrified Rito as monsters, as well as _….guardians…._ pillaged and butchered everyone they saw. Even from so high up, the screams and cries for help were deafening, and the sounds of guardians shooting lasers blasted through the air.

What…

What was happening?

_Did the guardians turn on us? How did this happen?_

Revali went to jump off the edge to fly down to his people to help them, to fight the guardians and monsters below, but he couldn’t. As soon as he stepped off of the ledge, something threw him backward and he flew back about twenty feet before falling onto the ground.

Again, from where he was, he jumped into the air to flap his wings to help. But once more, he was stopped. It felt like he flew into something that wasn’t there, and proceeded to be thrown onto the ground.

“Wh….what…?” He whimpered quietly under his breath before trying again and again, only finding himself down on the ground each time. Was this some sort of barrier that was keeping him on Medoh? And why did he feel so...strange?

He finally took a second to look down at himself, and if he even had a heart still, it starting pumping fast.

He looked down to see that he was...turquoise..?  And not only that, but it looked like he was transparent. Seeing this, his breath quickened and wavered, and he hesitantly held his left arm up to slowly touch it with his right hand.

But then it phased through.

_What…what is this?_

“What...what’s happened to me?” Revali’s voice quivered as he wondered this aloud, but was met with only more screams of horror from down below in response.

Was he some sort of spirit now or something?

If so, it was apparent that he did die then. It was true that he had lost to the beast that Ganon had sicked on him and failed everyone and as eternal punishment, he was stuck on this gods forsaken machine.

He just stared at his transparent hands as the world around him started to spin.

He shook himself out of it when he heard the screaming start up again, and from someone he knew.

_Koni!_

Revali got up and clumsily stumbled back the edge of Vah Medoh, falling to his knees as he arrived to clench the ledge and look over and down. His eyes flicked around to find the streets littered with bodies, buildings in flames, monsters roaming around with blood-covered weapons drawn and Guardians toppling over the collapsing buildings in their wake while scouting for more victims. With every body he saw, his grip on the ledge tightened and his breath stopped.

Then he finally found the source of the scream that caught his attention.

Koni was standing at the very edge of one of the village’s wooden landings; he was holding a blood-covered arm that looked crooked and disfigured, and he was standing with all his weight on one leg like he hurt the other.

Koni was bound to the ground, unable to fly with his broken wing, and his husband, Revali’s old mentor, stood in front to protect him from the oncoming enemies headed for them. Even from so far up above, Revali could see that frighteningly determined glint in his bright red eyes, even though it was clear he was tired and weak- no matter how tightly he held the spear in his hands.

Revali screamed out for them, but only a whisper escaped his throat. He was well aware that over the years, Kezul had gotten weaker and weaker from his long history of injuries. He was slow and frail now in his old age, and it looked like he was already hobbling around from fighting that night already. That stupid old bastard was more stubborn than he was old.

“Just leave me behind!” Revali barely heard Koni cry out to Kezul. It sounded like the large Rito was choking on his own tears. “Just go, Kezul! Please!”

“No! I’m staying right here with you, Koni!” Kezul barked over his shoulder, standing his ground while a drove of four silver Moblins started to step towards them, their disgusting limp tongues hanging out of their mouth as they approached. “I’m not leaving you.” The flames destroying the village lit up Kezul’s face, making his eyes shine an even more awfully adamant glimmer in his crimson eyes.

The purple Rito let go of his broken arm and grabbed his husband, trying to pull him out of his fighting stance as he sobbed, “please, Kezul. I can find a way out of this! You can’t fight anymore, please just go!” Koni clung on the red ave before he collapsed into his back. “Just go…”  

The stubborn avian only clenched his jaw and furrowed his eyebrows, refusing to let down his stance. “No.”

The Moblins stepped closer, causing them both to step back. One leaped forwards towards Kezul to swing a club, and Kezul grabbed Koni from behind him to drag him along as he dodged. As quickly as he was able to, he sidestepped and jabbed the spear into the monster’s thigh, making it cry out before the red warrior swept its legs from under it. When it hit the ground, he made a quick leap into the air to land one foot on its throat and the other onto its chest, digging his talons into it. It scrambled underneath him to try and rip him off as it drowned on the blood that flowed from its torn throat. Though Kezul was haggard and weak, he still had just enough strength in him to keep it pinned underneath him; though this one had been the runt of the group.

Kezul hunched forward and breathed heavily, pointing his bloodied spear at the other three Moblins in front of him. “Stay back,” he gruffly muttered in between heavy breaths, and it was obvious that he was running on fumes at this point. It was so obvious that even those brain dead Moblins noticed, so they drew nearer while Koni was only able to watch from the sidelines.

 

The three Moblins were on him in an instant, and then it was over for him. He may have had enough strength to pin one Moblin down, but he didn’t have enough to fight three that had been larger than the one he went for.

The scene was horrific; so horrific that Revali couldn’t tear his eyes away and was left to watch the old and weak Kezul be beat, ground and crushed. It was not too dissimilar to a pack of wolves all attempting to devour a feeble bird they had managed to catch.

If it was the mentor in his early days, he would have slashed them and be done with it in an instant, but he had gotten so slow that it didn’t take the Moblins much of an effort to grab him and hold him down while the others hacked and slashed. He would try to fly away- to bat his wings only to be grabbed and held onto more tightly.

Feathers the color of the blood that coated the ground and faces of the merciless monsters showered onto the wood beneath Kezul. Koni had never seen violence like this before, so his mind was surely shattering and breaking while his utter panic and horror restricted him from doing anything. He had fallen and crawled backwards to the side edge of the landing, shaking and silently crying.      

Revali tried what felt like millions of times to escape the barrier that trapped him on Vah Medoh while he was forced to watch his mentor get pulverized by creatures he could easily beat himself. Each time, he was thrown back again, only for him to rush forward over and over.

After the billionth try, he gave up and could only sit there like the useless piece of shit he was. “Damn it!” He wailed over and over while he relentlessly beat on the barrier that kept him so far from those that needed him.

When the Moblins were done with their handiwork, the largest of the three of them picked up and held the body of Kezul by his neck; the gruesome corpse was drooping over the large silver hand, revealing that any life in the red ave was gone and only an empty husk was left.

The Moblins must’ve heard something because they all suddenly went quiet and looked in the same direction before tossing what used to be Kezul away and scampering back into the flames and body littered street.

After the silver creatures left, Koni immediately crawled to Kezul to seize the body and hold it close to him while his tears flowed ever heavier and faster. The large purple Rito buried his head in his dead husband’s neck and sobbed, totally unaware of everything else that was happening around him.

Revali noticed it first- an approaching Guardian coming around the corner with its eye set on Koni. His voice suddenly returned to him again, and so he screamed out for Koni as loud as his ghostly form would let him.

It happened in slow motion.

After Revali screamed, Koni turned his head up towards Revali so he could see the fear glossing over his forest green eyes that shone in the moonlight. When Koni somehow was miraculously able to see Revali’s spirit from all the way up there, his face lit up in what looked like utter surprise and a bit of joy. Through his gross tears, he smiled up at him for just a second, wide-eyed.

The Guardian Stalker Revali noticed rounded the corner that was between it and Koni. The amethyst avian slowly turned his head to watch the Guardian step onto a burning building, making it crumble underneath its weight and enlarging the fire so that it exploded outward. The haunting glow of the flames illuminated Koni as he slowly looked back down at his dead lover in his arms.

Revali pounded his fists on the invisible barrier holding him back, and he screamed and cried when he watched the Guardian twitch its eye and began its beeping, indicating that it was getting ready to shoot its annihilating ray.

Koni looked up from Kezul’s body to Revali, and for some reason, his face was bare of fear and he held a calm and loving expression, even with tears still trailing down his face. He then opened his quivering beak and mouthed words that the fallen Champion could barely read.

 

“It’s not your fault.”

 

The Guardian drew nearer, shaking the wooden structure when one of its feet landed right on the edge of where the landing was built on the path. It let out a few higher-pitched beeps, showing that it was near firing its laser.

Revali let out a final, sharp cry for Koni when the final beep rang in the air before the machine shot its beam.

The world turned even slower then as Revali was forced to watch the two older Rito who raised him; who cared for him, who trained him, who scolded him, who fed him, who loved him; be blown apart by a blinding blast.

The blast broke the wooden landing into two, splintering the wood and making the two avian bodies fall down.

Down into the lake far far below.

And Revali was alone.

Alone with the remaining screams of terror from his desecrated home.

Alone with his own cries and incessant pounding on the one thing that was holding him back from saving his family, only to be thrown back and back again.

Even now, they still lingered.

His own begging for it all to stop still echoed in his mind.

The screams of his kin while they were being slaughtered by the invaders in the night still resonated in his head.

Koni’s smile and the way that, even when he was about to be ripped apart, he looked to him with the doting, affectionate face of a proud parent, and told him that what was happening wasn’t his fault.

But it was.

He failed.

He failed and because of him, almost everyone died and their home was completely demolished.

Because of him, his people had to build from the ground up in the last hundred years with what small pieces they had left.

If he knew that the Guardians would somehow turn against everyone, he would’ve tried harder.

But he had been weak.

He had been weak and slow and stupid and useless and worthless and a waste of an existence.   

It haunted him for the last hundred years, like how the mystery of what happened Link during the Calamity haunted him.

He never came for him like he had promised that evening, so he probably died the same night that everyone else had. Although, Revali never did feel what he felt when the other Champions died again after Urbosa had apparently been killed. So, there was a chance that he didn’t die unless he didn’t have the same sort of connection with him like he did with the others.

And that scared him.

That terrified him.

He dreaded the thought that Link could’ve died a horrendous death out there where he couldn’t reach him...that he wasn’t there to help him and protect him from whatever was happening from beyond where his eyes could see.

Even if he didn’t die, it had been an entire century and Link never appeared. What could’ve happened to him then?

He didn’t know, and thinking about it and pondering over it only brought on such an intense pain that was almost too much to bear. That was why he relished in his past memories to give him comfort when it was too hard; when he wished that Hylia would just let his spirit die so he could stop hurting and just be done.

And there were those moments that he found himself staring at the opening from Tabantha Hills, hoping to find that small blonde Hylian race through. When he caught himself doing that he felt so ridiculous, and would simply turn away and briskly walk elsewhere on Vah Medoh.

It was foolish to keep his hopes up a full hundred years after the Calamity, yet there was this burning yearning inside of him that made it impossible not to hope to see that dirty-blonde mop of hair out there, running towards the village to finally see him after all these years.

But that was stupid.

He knew it was.

That’s why when he felt a certain _ping_ inside of him, he frustratingly brushed it off. It couldn’t have been Link. That would be impossible. It must’ve been something else.

But he wasn’t sure.

  
  


Until a month later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eyyyyyy sorry again for taking a billion years writing this update!!! But i have two more things to say  
> The other day, I made a BOTW RP Discord Server that has yet to have members!! I want to use it as a way to practice writing the characters that'll be in the next work of the series and just to have fun, and so if you're up for it, join and have some fun with me !! <3 https://discord.gg/ch9XFVB
> 
> Anddd secondly...(i was gonna wait until the very end of the fic to say this but um er I'm afraid I'll forget)  
> writing this all made me realize how much I love to write! that's why I want to try opening up writing commissions! I don't have a post or anything about it yet since I still need proper examples of my writing, but if you're interested in being my guinea pig, message me on my [ tumblr ](http://zzariyo.tumblr.com/) or e-mail me at zackoree.amaris@gmail.com !!
> 
> Hopefully I'll see you guys real soon! (if i can focus and hammer out the last bit houghghg)


	17. Too Cruel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revali, after waiting for a hundred years, notices a figure that resembles someone from his past.  
> Could it be Link? Is it really him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhh my GOD I'M DONE!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA  
> god i am so so sorry that this chapter sucks ass?? ? ? way to end ur big ass fic anti-climatically, zack lololololololol

It was another day of training for young Revali, and his mentor Kezul was helping him perfect his technique of shooting his bow while flying. The young juvenile was still a bit clumsy, so he had issues perfectly tossing his bow into the air by his feet and snatching it to shoot the perfect shot before he had to grab it out of the air with his talons again.

At this point, Revali had been working with Kezul for three or so years. He first started working with him when he was just barely a fledgling, and at first, the permanent scowl that always was plastered on the red avian's face terrified him. Kezul's short warm gray beak that was covered in small cracks and scars made his frown even harsher, and his thick black eyebrows that furrowed into his borderline demonic red eyes scared the daylights out of the poor child...but that had only made his smile warmer, and so Revali loved to make his mentor smile whenever he could. 

Kezul had also been a lot more gentle and patient than what he had expected after seeing him stomp around the village before he started teaching him. One would have thought he would be cruel and demanding of his pupils; yelling and cursing every chance he got. But when Revali made a mistake, he calmly told him what he had done wrong and asked him if he wanted to try again. 

Well, unless he wasn't annoyed at least. 

Even so, he loved Kezul's company, and he couldn't have asked for a better mentor than him.

"I know you're frustrated, Revali." The gruff voice said after Revali flew back down to the ground after dropping his stupid bow for the thousandth time. "We can take a break if you want, or we can keep trying."

Revali had a tight grip on his bow as he flapped his smaller wings harder and faster to stay next to Kezul in the air, who only had to make smooth, long, hard flaps. The navy juvenile nearly snapped his weapon in half from the overwhelming annoyance he felt from still not being able to do something as simple as grabbing something out of the air. "Of course I want to try again!" His little voice snapped, being high strung from his failure.

The older Rito looked over at him, rose his eyebrows and tightened his beak into a disapproving look. At seeing that, Revali's face softened and he uttered a small apology.

"It's fine. I know how tough it can be and it's easy to get mad. Let's just take a break, okay?" 

"No! I-"

Again, Kezul looked at him with that disapproving look.

"Fine. Fine! Whatever." The younger Rito said. "I guess I'll just sit on my  _ ass _ instead of-"

Kezul's disapproving look morphed into one that Revali hadn't seen for a while- one of unadulterated shock. "Sorry, what did you just say?"

Revali's eyes widened in fear when he realized that he just cursed in front of Kezul. He stumbled on his words. "I...uh...I said ‘I guess I'll just...sit on…. _ th...the grass’!" _

"Oh, don't give me that! I know what you said!" 

"If you knew what I said, then why did you ask?!"

_ "Because _ you little jackass-"

"Oh! Oh, I get it!  _ You _ can curse but not  _ me?"  _

Kezul blankly stared at Revali for a moment before he scrunched his face into a sour expression. He twisted around to fly back to the ground below. "You know that's different," He muttered under his breath, like he, the adult, was trying to find an excuse but was empty-handed.

Revali scoffed loudly before following his mentor. "You know it's not! How am I supposed to know not to curse if you spout profanities all the time! Where do you think I learned that word anyway? The elder?  _ Koni?" _

"Well, you're supposed to know better, y-" Kezul was about to spout another cuss, but stopped and reeled back to shout, "...Revali!" in its place.

They both landed on the ground in the grassy hills to continue their pointless bickering. Kezul was briskly walking while Revali hustled behind him to keep up with his shorter legs. "That's not how that works!"

"What do you mean, ‘that's not how that works'?" The red ave turned around to squint down at Revali while opening his arms in irritated confusion. "That's not how  _ what  _ works?" 

Revali leaned far backward to make a loud, exasperated sigh before almost yelling, "that's not how raising a kid works, dad!" 

It was like his voice echoed for a bit while Kezul stood there dumbfounded. For the second time that day, the elder Rito was completely shocked. His eyes grew terribly wide and his beak hung open to just stutter like a dumbstruck fool. "Wh..what did you say?"

Revali, clearly annoyed, flipped back to look at Kezul and yell again, "I  _ said _ ‘that's not how raising….'" When he realized what he said to the other avian, his voice grew quiet as he trailed on. "‘...a kid...works,...dad…'"

They just stood there looking at each other with massive eyes, blinking dumbly at each other silently.

It wasn't until Koni appeared out of nowhere, as he had a habit of doing, that they were ripped from their daze. The large purple Rito with unruly fluffy hair landed from the sky a bit behind Kezul, who didn't look over at his beloved and instead kept staring straight ahead at his pupil. "There you two are! I swear, it's always hide-and-seek with you! I made lunch for the both of you forever ago!" Koni twittered annoyingly and walked forward to stand next to Kezul. He quizzically looked over at Kezul, waiting for some sort of romantic greeting, and then back over at Revali when he got no response. "What's this, then? Are you two boys having a staring contest? What sort of weird training regimen is this, Zuzu?"

Without taking his eyes off of Revali, Kezul reached over to grab Koni's arm. "Koni…"

"Kezul? For Hylia's sake, what's wrong with you?"

"Revali….." Kezul trailed off while lifting his other arm to point at his pupil who was still staring blankly at him. 

"Yes, that's right. That  _ is _ Revali. Good job, Kezul." 

Normally Kezul would have glared at Koni, but he did nothing and continued to whisper, "he…."

Koni rose his eyebrows and pursed his beak, waiting for some ridiculous nonsense to spill from his husband's mouth.

".... he called me dad."

Immediately, Koni's eyes and beak shot open and he quickly looked back and forth, knocking around the braids and beads in his hair. His face of total disbelief turned into one of utter glee as he looked back and forth even faster. "Revali called you  _ dad?! _ " Koni squealed.

"Yes!" Kezul managed to say, his blank stare crinkling in a big smile. "Yes! Yes! He called me dad!" He looked over at Koni and he grabbed his hands. "Revali called me dad!"

"Revali called you dad!" Koni repeated.

"He called me dad!"

"He called you dad!" The two husbands started to bounce a little as they continued to repeat each other in their excitement. It was really wrong seeing Kezul hop like a tiny little hatchling who finally got the toy they wanted

"Goddess! I'm still right here!" Revali shrieked, so embarrassed that his feathers fluffed up and the young boy became a little blue cotton ball. "Stop it!" The two adults ignored his cries and continued until Koni suddenly stopped, and his smile disappeared. Kezul slowly followed and looked to Koni, confused. 

"What's wrong?"

Koni was silent for a moment before he squinted his eyes and frowned. He threw his head towards Revali and whined, "that's not fair!"

Revali jumped back an inch and blinked wildly. "Wh-What's not fair?"

The amethyst Rito tore his hands out of the other so he could face the navy Rito. He balled his large wings into fists and put them on his hips as he started to walk forward. "I cannot believe this! Revali, you're truly a cruel little bugger, aren't you?"

"What are you talking about, Koni?"

"I practically raised you your entire life and Kezul only came into the picture a couple of years ago. Why does  _ he _ get to be called ‘dad'?!" Koni huffed. Behind him, Kezul snickered a little bit. "And what are you laughing about, mister?!" Koni scolded after twisting his chest to look behind him.

"Well…" Kezul chuckled. "I don't know. Look at you...you're so upset...you're so cute when you're upset…" He started to laugh harder. "And I fit the role of being a dad more than you ever will, love."

"What!" Koni squawked, completely offended. "All you do is order him around! I'm the only one that's ever really taken care of him! Why are you still laughing?!"

Kezul continued to snicker and managed to say, "you're such a mom, my flower," through his laughs.

The larger Rito continued to look at him, and his offended expression shifted. "Ah! You're right, Kezul. I really am more like a mother if anything." He twisted back towards Revali. "You're much more like the mean, useless father that never does anything around the house."

That made the red ave stop laughing. "Hey!" 

Koni smiled brightly at Revali, who was just watching them with distaste. "Okay, Revali. I'm waiting."

Revali raised one eyebrow and cocked his head. "Waiting for me to what?"

"To call me ‘mom' of course."

"Wh-? No! I'm not calling you ‘mom'!" 

"And why not?" The large ave said while crossing his wings to give him a disapproving look that matched Kezul's from earlier. He tapped one of his fingers on his arm, acting exactly like a true mother would, horrifyingly. 

"Because you're not my mom, Koni!" 

"Yes, I am!" 

"No, you're not! You can't even be a mom! You're a guy!"

"So?"

_ "So, _ you can't be a mom!"

"Well, I don't see why not." 

"Guys can't be moms!"

"That's odd. Then how am I your mother if ‘guys can't be moms'?"

"You're not my mom!"

Kezul stepped forward, looking tired and done with this conversation; the glee that was on his face earlier was totally gone thanks to this head-aching quarrel that was dragging on too long. "Alright, alright." He walked in between them and then looked to Revali. "Revali, I'm starving and I bet that Koni won't let us eat until you do as he says. Is that right, Koni?" 

"Yes, that's right, dear."  The purple Rito chirped.

"Okay, then Revali..." Kezul put his hand on Revali's shoulder. "...Please just call your mother ‘mom', son."

"What?!" The teen screeched. "No! And don't call me ‘son'!"

The dusty-red avian gave him that stupid parental disapproving look once more; raising his eyebrows and tightening his beak. "Son, I am very hungry. Please just do as you're told."

"No! I will not!" Revali screeched again, feverishly shaking his head. But the two adults looked at him intensely, their glares ever so slowly transitioning to grins. 

After what felt like hours, he finally gave in. "...sorry, mom." 

Koni squealed with delight once more and reached out towards the smaller Rito to pinch his cheeks. "It's alright, sweetheart. I forgive you."

Revali uselessly swatted at the fingers that gripped him while whining. "I'm never saying it ever again!"

"We'll see about that!" Koni twittered and let go of the poor juvenile's cheeks. "Alright, now I'm satisfied. We can go eat now."

"Thank Din, Naryu, and Farore." Kezul heaved out a sigh. "Let's go then," he said while turning around to fly into the air. The other two followed and took to the air to start flying home to have their well-deserved meal. "What did you make, Koni?"

"Stew."

_ "Stew? _ But we had that yesterday!" Revali mewled while trying his best to keep up with the other Ritos that had a much bigger wingspan than he did.

"Revali! For shame! Your mother works so hard for you, and this is how you treat him?" Koni sarcastically wailed.

"Stooooop!" The kid whined. 

"Your mother's right. You should thank him." Kezul chuckled.

"Can we please be done with this?" 

"Your father said to thank me!" Koni humorously chittered. "You better obey him or else no lunch for you!"

"Please, for the love of Hylia...can we stop?"

"Son," Kezul said sternly, mocking a serious father.

Revali groaned.  _ "Fine. _ Thanks, mom." 

Instead of welcoming him, Koni started to giggle and Kezul followed suit by snickering, too. The young Rito, annoyed, watched the two of them laugh together, but after a few seconds he cracked and started to laugh himself.

"Why are you like this?" He managed to say in between laughs.

"Because we love you, Revali!" Koni said. "And Kezul and I wanted nothing more than for you to consider us family." 

"And family is annoying as all hell!" Kezul added, still snickering. 

Revali fluttered as fast as he could so he was able to fly next to Koni and Kezul. He smiled wider than ever and said, "but you guys already  _ are _ my family."

Koni almost crashed when he said that; just that short sentence brought Koni into hysterics. He was in tears, and they had to stop before they got home for him to sit down and cry before he flew into something and hurt himself. 

Revali awkwardly patted him on the back, to which Koni reacted by grabbing Revali and pulling him into a tight hug. "I love you, Revali." He sobbed and then sniffed back in some gross snot that was starting to hang out of his nares. 

The little navy avian didn't miss a beat to reply back, "I love you, too." 

Kezul smiled brighter than Revali had ever seen before and leaned down to give his husband and his pupil a hug.

 

As Revali grew up, he would only refer to them as ‘friends' after Kezul was no longer his mentor. He acted like they annoyed him and that they were the bane of his existence, but that couldn't have been further from the truth.

He loved Koni and Kezul, and the moments they spent together meant everything to him.

They were his family.

But they were gone.

Long gone.

Like everyone else.

  
  
  
  


\----- 

  
  
  
  
  


It had been a day like any other for the Rito Champion.

It was another day of wallowing and reminiscing and staring off into nothing, waiting either to disappear into thin air or for something that was never going to happen. 

The wide open sky above was slowly changing from a bright blue to an apricot as the sun was making its way down the sky for its rest. After being stuck on Vah Medoh so long, every day that passed felt only like a single minute, so the rising and setting of the sun happened so continuously and quickly that sometimes he didn't even notice. Time didn't apply to him anymore, which he was thankful of because otherwise, he would have lost his mind (if he even technically had one) very quickly. 

The Champion had been absentmindedly watching the surrounding landscape; taking in the surrounding hills and cliffsides. The setting sun and changing sky painted the cliffs shades of orange while the clustered pine trees far below swayed slightly in the wind. Shadows were growing ever longer as they did every evening, coating the ground in dark shapes when the night began to take over for the day. 

His mind was drifting so much that it took him a while to actually notice something that was shocking to see.

A small, distant mop of dirty-blonde hair was dashing across Kolami Bridge, towards the path that led to Rito Village.

When it clicked who the owner of that unruly hair could be, he nearly jumped and raced closer to the edge of the Divine Beast to get a better look at the Hylian running far down below. Revali intently stared at the figure, watching it hustle down the green hill towards the stables, cursing that he was too high up to get another clue to who the Hylian was.

The part of him that tried its best to not get its hopes up and was convinced that Link had been dead for so long kicked into gear and he was cursing himself for, yet again, hoping for something that was impossible.

It could've been any Hylian- one that wasn't probably  _ dead! _ So what if their hair had the same shine to it that Link's had? So what if their hair was tied up in a loose low ponytail that bounced when they ran? That could be anyone! It's been a hundred years and he was still so irritatingly covetous.

It was horrible, but he made himself recall one of the visions the dreams that plagued his mind when he was still alive gave him. He made himself reimagine Link's body on the muddy ground, covered in gashes and burns, bleeding out while rain drizzled on him.

Link was dead.

He was dead.

Revali thought he was over this. He thought he finally got over what happened and accepted that Link, the one he loved and waited so long for, was dead. 

It hurt to think about it, but it would hurt even more to wait for him another hundred, or even thousand, years.

He was dead.

 

_ Link is dead. _

_ Link is gone. _

_ Link will never come back. _

_ Just like Mipha. _

_ Just like Daruk. _

_ Just like Urbosa. _

_ Just like Koni. _

_ Just like Kezul. _

_ Get over yourself. _

Revali swore at the Hylian running amok on his homeland for resembling the one he was in love with in life and reminding him of his painful pining. What an idiot. What were they even doing here? Go home.

To calm himself down, he acted out spitting at the Hylian down below before turning around and returning to the inside of Vah Medoh where he wouldn't be tempted to watch the form dart around the landscape.

This was so stupid.

  
  
  


Millions of stars were twinkling brightly in the steel blue sky, brightening the endless ocean of a sky with the glowing full moon. The wind was especially fierce that night and tossed around the limbs and leaves of the trees far down below- not that Revali could feel it of course.

He was recounting a precious moment with Link while blankly staring at the village before, horrifyingly, he saw the Hylian from earlier that evening walking up the wooden path of the town. Revali could see the blonde Hylian more distinctly, now that they had gotten so much closer.   

The Hylian in question was wearing the snowquill armor, which they must have bought at the village's store, and while their hair was done slightly different for the headdress, the hair was exactly like what Link's was. It was the exact same color, it was tied in the back the same way, the bangs fell into their face like Link's did. It had the same shimmer, the same bounce. 

Before, the hair could've been anyone in Hyrule's, but it was too similar. Too identical to the way Link's had been. 

But it was impossible. There was no way. Revali was seeing ghosts now; seeing echoes of his memories out there in the real world.

That had to be it.

That was the only explanation.

After convincing himself that had been the case, he watched the figure down below curiously; watching them walk up the wooden path to the elder's house. It was strange how there were some similarities, yet lots of differences from what he could tell so high up.

The figure had hair identical to Link, as well as body shape and any other features he could see, but the mannerisms were different. First off, Link had a limp from an injury that didn't heal perfectly when he was a child; though, it was so slight that you would only be able to tell if he told you or if you stared long enough (which, embarrassingly, was how Revali noticed this about him). This strange, mysterious doppelganger didn't have that limp at all and even walked with a pep in their step that Link never ever had.

Then there was the way that they greeted absolutely everyone they passed on the way up the rock. They waved ‘hello' and gave an exuberant grin to total strangers- every single one he came across. Link was never like that. He had been friendly of course, but there was an endearing shyness to him where he would only give a tiny smile and a nod at the very most typically. He was sweet, but not outgoing. Not Link. 

This faker hustled up the path, even while they insisted on taking the time to greet every Rito in the village. Link wasn't like that. Link always took his time and examined everything around him with an innocent sense of wonder whenever he did anything.

If they weren't real, then why would his mind conjure up such a thing? It didn't have any reason for doing that.

That was only proof it was a coincidence that the two Hylians had such strange similarities. There was no way that was Link.

Thinking that made him huff a bit out of amusement of his absurdity and shake his head.

Right.

Just a strange coincidence.

Of course.

  
  
  
  


"No! Not again!" Revali's voice echoed throughout the inside of his Divine Beast as he ran through the halls to get outside. "Medoh! Stop! Don't do this again!" 

Yet another thing that made the last century so torturous was how Vah Medoh was behaving since he lost control of it. Because of him and his Divine Beast, his people weren't allowed to fly in their own skies anymore. Whatever had ripped his ability to control his machine from him made it so that it would attack anything that flew too close, keeping the Rito people on the ground instead of in the air where they belonged.

His people were cunning and fast, but there was a small handful of Rito that were killed because of Medoh, and their blood was on his hands. Every time he heard its cannons begin to whir into action and its shield turn on, something inside of him sunk from dread and horror, knowing full well that his Divine Beast was getting ready to attack another innocent person. 

He remembered the first time that Vah Medoh killed a Rito that simply wanted to fly. At least then it had been clean shot that instantly killed the Rito; that was better than the times where it hit one of their wings and sent them spiraling down into the lake where they likely drowned. 

Those deaths haunted Revali. He could always hear them scream and cry as they descended down to their demise.

Revali had been trying to get Vah Medoh to listen to him and stop this madness for a hundred years, and it had still failed to listen. 

Many had come to try and stop it as well, though that obviously always ended in failure. He understood their efforts, but he wished he could just grab them, shake them, and tell them to never come up here ever again. They simply didn't have the means to stop Vah Medoh- nobody had. In fact, it was a couple of weeks ago when the tall white Rito Revali was fond of and his companion, a black Rito with a thick sidecut, tried to defeat Vah Medoh and stop it from hindering the lives of their people.

It was horrible to watch, and even worse knowing that it was all Revali's fault. Knowing that it was his fault that the black Rito had gotten so terribly hurt so he was unable to fly and fell through the air towards the lake that killed so many others.

He was lucky he had such a good friend with him, for his partner was able to nab him out of the sky and get him to safety before Vah Medoh was able to do anything more.

Others hadn't been lucky, and that's why Revali was horrified when he heard the familiar awful whirring sounds radiate from the Divine Beast that used to be his.

"Medoh, please! I'm begging you- please stop!" Revali cried out while he ran to the main terminal of the Divine Beast. Ever since Vah Medoh first started killing, he always made a valiant yet fruitless effort to try and gain control of the beast somehow.

But every time

Every _ single _ time

His hands would only phase through no matter how hard he tried. 

When he ran outside of the structure, however, he happened to look up and see who it was this time that was trying to stop Vah Medoh. Through the amaranth barrier that Medoh had just surrounded itself with, he could just barely see two figures in the air.

One was the familiar figure of the white Rito that was there last time, but there was another one on his back- a smaller figure. A familiar Hylian was riding on the back of the Rito warrior. It was the one he kept seeing the night before and couldn't stop thinking about.

What would a Hylian hope to gain helping the Rito people? Hylians never did anything unless they got something out of it, except for…

 

_ Link. _

 

Even being a ghost, Revali still lost his breath when that thought had come to mind. He gasped when he saw the Hylian suddenly drop off of the back of the warrior and pull out a paraglider to catch the updraft and use it to glide closer to Vah Medoh. He was left paralyzed, just staring up at the Hylian gliding through the air.

The fallen Champion was ripped from his trance when he heard the beeping from Vah Medoh's cannons.

 

_ Shit! Shit! Shit! Fuck! _

 

Revali, knowing that it was useless, still scrambled to try and take control over his Divine Beast. There must've been a way, but he was too stupid to figure out before. Even so, he had to figure it out now or Link, or whoever the hell this crazy bastard was, could get seriously hurt.

He was cursing and ready to give up when he happened to look in front of him at the perfect time to see the Hylian fall directly in front of where he was and pull out his paraglider to slowly drift down for just a moment.

Even through the shield, Revali recognized it.

The hair easily could have been someone else, but not the eyes that Revali could finally just barely see.

It was those eyes.

It was those eyes that were the color of the sky on a hazy summer's afternoon. 

It was those eyes that became a stream whenever he was thinking hard about something.

It was those eyes that became the night sky bright with starlight whenever he got excited.

It was those eyes that he had fallen in love with so very long ago, and that was most certainly Link's face. 

Revali recognized that nose, those lips, that jawline.

He had studied Link's face too many times to overlook those features, even a hundred years later.

This was Link.

It was him.

It was actually him.

He really came.

He kept his promise. 

Something inside of Revali stirred.

 

_ He told the truth…. _

_ He's come for me…. _

 

But how was this possible? There had to be a feasible explanation. Perhaps it was an echo of a fantasy instead of an actual memory and he was putting a familiar face on a stranger in hopes it was him. 

That had to be it, it was impossible for it to be real.

 

_ No. No. This is him. _

_ This is Link. _

_ This is real. _

_ It has to be. _

 

When he got over himself, he looked back at the terminal with worriedly hopeful eyes, hoping that for once he would be granted a slight amount of luck. Just enough so that he could stop Vah Medoh and that Link could glide down and they could see each other again.

They could be together.

They could figure something out.

He just wanted so desperately to see him again.

"Goddess Hylia, please! I beg of you! Please help me out here! I'm sorry for all the times I cursed you and blamed you for the position I'm in. But I  _ implore _ you to just…! Give me a sign! A clue...something! Don't take Link away from me again…" Revali cried out to nothing, just like he had done for the last century. 

The last hundred years really made him hate Goddess Hylia, if the bitch even was real.

How could she do this to him? How could she not let him completely die, and then when he was finally given the chance to see the one he loved again, he was in danger?  

Revali seethed with fury when he came to terms with the fact that he was useless the way he was now and couldn't do a thing.

But then something bubbled up inside of him when he heard explosions and looked upwards to see Link shooting bomb arrows at the cannons to disarm Vah Medoh and get inside. Revali smiled wide in happy disbelief. He let out a happy scoff, knowing that that for sure was Link after watching him easily destroy the cannons that did off so many others.

That was definitely him.

He was really here.

Revali was happier than he had ever been, dead or alive, when he watched Vah Medoh's shield go down after Link's success.  He was filled to the brim of euphoria, and could barely contain himself while he waited patiently for Link to finally come down and see him after all these years...and hopefully with some sort of explanation. 

Revali didn't want to reveal himself yet though. He wanted to see Link's cute overexcitable face looking around for him before he revealed himself. He flew to the top of the entrance and while looking down at Link, he was the most exhilarated than he'd ever been since he actually had a body.

He watched patiently while Link casually took out the familiar Sheikah slate from his side and used it to open the travel gate as if he had already done it before. The gate lit up behind him, causing him to turn around to see it glow.

This was it!

This was what Revali had been waiting for forever!

"Well, now, I've seen that face before…." He cooed lovingly at the Hylian below, who jumped a foot in the air in surprise because of the sudden voice. Grinning like an idiot, he started to chuckle to himself. Link down below looked around him to find the source of the noise but was too foolish to think to look up. "I had a feeling you would show up eventually." He continued to jeer. "But making me wait a hundred years is a bit…" 

Revali watched as Link stopped looking and simply turned his head to glance into Vah Medoh. And that's when he saw his face and knew for absolute sure that it was the face of the Link he loved.

And it was terrible.

It was  _ horrible. _

It was the worst thing that could've ever happened.

It was Link for sure, but he didn't act like himself at all. The way he held himself with a strong and peculiar sense of confidence, and how his face was no longer soft and kind, but rather hearty and spirited in an overly expressive way.

What was worse though was that there was no excitement. No glee at having heard his voice. 

There wasn't even a slight glimmer in his eyes that showed he even  _ recognized _ Revali's voice. It just looked like he was listening to a stranger that he didn't know; listening to an unfamiliar person spout some nonsense.

 

_ Oh. _

  
  


"....indulgent." Revali finally finished, trailing off slightly.

 

What...what was this then? Was this a new way for Hylia to torture Revali? To bring Link here and tease him? 

Why was this happening? If he didn't come for him like he  _ promised,  _ then what in the everloving  _ fuck _ was he doing here? 

Revali again seethed with rage, but not like any kind he had felt in life or death. He was so angry that he could actually feel for the first time in forever. It felt like he was on fire and that he was going to explode into nothingness.

But then his rage settled when he realized something.

He knew all this time that Zelda had sealed herself in Hyrule Castle with Ganon to keep him sealed away (how he knew that exactly he didn't know, but he knew for sure). Judging by the way Link looked, it was clear he was on a mission and was going in headstrong. 

He wasn't here for him.

He was there for Zelda and Ganon.

He was here to take back control of Vah Medoh and use it for aid.

But...that didn't explain why he suddenly had no recollection of Revali. It didn't explain why it looked like he didn't care and just wanted to be on his way.

Where was he all these years anyway?

Why was this happening to Revali?

Did he….Did he somehow forget all about him during the time they spent apart…? Did he somehow lose his memories in the last one hundred years? Or…

Revali was quiet while these thoughts shot through his mind before he finally continued. "You're here to wrest control of Medoh away from Ganon, correct?" He hissed, though he tried to keep his emotions more discreet. But how could he? He was angrier than ever. Angry at Link, at Ganon, at Hylia…

At himself.

Revali sighed to himself, trying to compose himself from all the emotions running through him. He wanted nothing more than to scream at Link, to yell at him endlessly. But what good would that do? He couldn't thwart Link from his next attempt at defeating Ganon, so he had to calm down as long as he could to at least help. He could scream to the heavens and crave the end of his existence later.

"If so, then the first thing you'll want to do is find yourself a map." He grumbled while Link stepped towards the opening of Vah Medoh and gazed inside. "That Guidance Stone has the information for the layout of this Divine Beast. Can you make it there?" 

Revali watched this stranger snort and nod before heading on inside of Vah Medoh. As soon as he went inside, he followed to watch this pathetic excuse of a hero in the shadows; he watched him use the Sheikah slate to get across to the Guidance Stone as well as fight the little Guardian that was waiting for him on the other side.

Revali had been spitting at the Hylian for wearing Link's skin yet acting so much different than him. There were only smaller differences, but Revali could tell. They both walked differently, and again, it was like this unknown intruder held himself completely different and it looked wrong on Link's body.

But then when he fought the Guardian, he swung his sword just like Link had. He had the exact same grace; it was the very same dance that Link had performed each time he fought. Seeing that fighting style again made something inside of him feel warm, and he found himself leaning forward as he watched him swing his weapon around. 

It was so eerily yet comfortingly nostalgic...but it was over soon. He had defeated his enemy and sheathed his sword back into its scabbard, and began to hustle forward to the stone to put the slate on it and get the information of the Divine Beast; back Revali went to hating this trespasser.  

"You'll need to look closely at your map of the Divine Beast," Revali explained from the shadows with scorn oozing out of his words. "The terminals that will activate Medoh are marked by those glowing points. You'll need to activate all the terminals to take back control." He continued, though he could see the Hylian roll his eyes and sigh slightly like he already heard this before and wanted to get on with it. "Think you're up for it?" Revali hissed, seeing the faker again snort and roll his eyes before opening the Sheikah slate to decide what terminal to access first.

 

The Rito Champion kept to the shadows, following the sword-wielder below him and studying him as he ran around stupidly and solved puzzles and battled more enemies. Revali should've known better. He should've known that it was best to keep his distance and be off wallowing far away from this cretin.

But it was impossible. It was like his loathing for this person mesmerized him and drug him along. He watched him intently, silently criticizing everything he did.

Someone he didn't know was wearing Link's skin; it was the same body and face, had the same hair, eyes, scars, and shape. Yet, everything else was different. Everything was wrong; from his walking to the way he solved problems, to the way he explored Revali's prison.

He was a fake.

He was an imitation of the real Link.

And he hated him.

He hated him so much.

  
  


When the Hylian finally finished activating all the main terminals, Revali above him snapped at him to get to the main terminal. In response, he had given the air a sour expression, annoyed at some unknown person bossing him around. The avian just wanted this clod to finally leave him so his suffering could finally end, so he tried his best to hurry him along.

However, when the faker brought out his Sheikah slate to light up the terminal, black mist not unfamiliar to Revali shot out and surrounded the structure, causing the man below to jump backward. Bright blue light gathered from seemingly nowhere to create an orb, which recreated the very same creature that had defeated him so many years ago.

Revali recognized that damn eye, as well as the cannon and those hideous claws. He probably would have suffered flashbacks from that moment where his body was destroyed and in shambles if worry didn't grip his soul suddenly.

"Good luck!" Revali unconsciously shouted from above. "That thing is one of Ganon's own, and it plays dirty!" He continued to warn before the beast turned into blue light and teleported. "His aim is dead-on! Watch yourself!" He cried out, and then immediately cursed himself. 

Why was he warning this impudent fool? Revali didn't owe him anything, and frankly, he wouldn't mind seeing this pediculous and flagitious ninny die. But there was something in him that still worried for the Hylian as if it actually was the Link that he had fallen in love with. 

He still cried out for him to watch out when Ganon's pawn whirled those cursed whirlwinds at him, when the creature sent those drones after him, and when the beast blasted that cursed cannon that had been the last thing that Revali saw. The avian found himself gripping his seat from anxiety, and when he realized himself doing so, he shook it off and tried his best to look back at gazing the little Hylian down below with distaste.

But how could he?

He looked exactly like Link and fought like him, too.

For the thousandth time that day, Revali cursed himself for his foolishness.

  
  
  


After the Hylian finally defeated the beast and Revali could let out a breath he had been holding, the new Link simply smiled a smile of triumph and made his way to the main terminal to activate it. He took out the Sheikah slate from his side and put it to the control pad, causing the entire terminal to brightly light up a light blue. 

This strange, new, fake Link looked up at it and smirked to himself and put his hands on his hips at having succeeded his little quest like it was nothing. 

Revali looked down at him with a face of utter hatred and disdain from his perch on top of one of the columns. He took a moment to look up to the heavens, glaring up at Hylia with an overwhelming feeling of something he couldn't describe, as he never quite felt something like this before. 

If watching this fake Link walk through his halls and fight the monsters that took over his machine showed Revali anything, it was that he had been right to think that Link was really dead all along. Link was dead and gone, and he shouldn't have expected anything different from that.  

At least, the Link that he knew. The Link that he loved.

Whoever was wearing Link's skin wasn't him, no matter how much he wanted it to be. 

He wanted nothing to do with this fraud that was totally making a mockery of Link.

Whoever this was, he hated him. He hated him with every fiber of his being and he wanted nothing more than for him to leave, or better yet,  _ die. _ That would be better than watching him make a farce out of Link.

But he knew that he had to help this faker defeat Ganon. He knew that he couldn't just send him back down without saying anything or helping him on his mission to assist Zelda and defeat the being that offed them all a hundred years ago.

The Rito looked back down at Link, and after somehow managing to shake off all the intense loathing he had for him that moment, he opened his beak and "Well, I'll be plucked," was the first thing that fell out of his mouth. As soon as it did, he cursed himself for saying something so casual and even loving to this cur. It seemed that for a split second, while looking at this Link, he had forgotten that it wasn't his Link. 

His Link had always cutely scrunched up his nose like he had smelled something awful whenever Revali slyly said any puns. 

Perhaps a sliver of him hoped to see that reaction, hoping for one last sign that it could have actually been him and he was just acting off.

But no.

It wasn't him.

His Link was dead.

This Link only cracked a confused, but amused, grin and looked around for the owner of the voice.

Now Revali had no chance of hiding any longer. He had to reveal himself whether he liked it or not. 

"You defeated him, eh?" Revali said before he flew down from his roost to reveal himself; not that this thing deserved it. He opened his wings to shrug, and jeered, "who would've thought?" The ave dug holes into this Link with his eyes as he put his wings back behind his back.

He studied him, and especially those eyes that, while being the same shape and color of his Link's, was completely different.

It was like they were empty, like this faker only wore his emotions on his face, leaving his eyes empty pools of still water instead of an ever-flowing stream of thoughts and feelings.

His Link wasn't like that.

His Link's eyes were alive.

This Link's eyes were dead, but perhaps he only was so inexplicably infuriated at those eyes because they didn't even recognize him. They just looked to him like he was a stranger he was meeting up with for the first time for business. After everything they had been through together, after falling in love with him and finding out that he had reciprocated those same feelings….Seeing those eyes look at him that way filled him with a pain that even after these hundred years of torture, he never had the burden of bearing before.

It was like he didn't even matter.

That he never mattered.

That he really truly was nothing.

He couldn't look at them anymore so he glanced away, looking down at the ground. "Well done." He uttered distantly and tried to reel himself back. Revali had been good at acting when he was alive: acting like he thought the world of himself, acting like every day wasn't agony, acting like he wasn't head over heels for his Link. 

If he could do all that, he could certainly act like he didn't loathe the Link in front of him more than he loathed Hylia herself. 

"I suppose I should thank you now that my spirit is free." He said, just barely succeeding in sounding nonchalant as he rose his wings to motion around Vah Medoh. "This returns Medoh back to its rightful owner." Revali looked to this other Link then, eyeing him with a look just short of a glare. "Don't preen yourself just for doing your job." He spat, his utter contempt sneaking into his tone.

After that, it was like the Rito's mind had switched off and he was on autopilot, the actor within him taking the reins to talk to the imposter like his soul wasn't shattering at this presence. 

Like he  _ wasn't _ falling apart at seeing someone he didn't know wearing his Link's skin.

Like he  _ wasn't _ wishing Hylia would just send his spirit to hell instead of making him suffer through this nightmare.

Like he  _ didn't _ feel like he amounted to absolutely nothing and none of the time he had spent with Link before mattered. 

Like he  _ didn't _ feel like he wasn't worthy of the light and love that his Link gave him while he was still flesh and blood. 

That his hatching was a mistake. His whole life was a mistake.  _ He _ was a mistake.

His parents were right to abandon him.

They were right to leave him; they had been the only ones in all of Hyrule that actually saw there was nothing inside of him and that his existence would only be one of suffering. That's why they left.

Why couldn't he just disappear already and let the world forget he ever existed?

Why did it turn out like this?

Why was he here, with a familiar yet alien pair of eyes looking at him expectantly as he spouted some nonsense he wasn't even fully conscious of?

He had loved his Link's eyes more than anything, but this Link's eyes filled him with a violent rage that was hard to subside. Revali just wanted to tear out that cur's eyes so he could stop looking at him with them, and so that Revali could stop looking at what belonged to his Link. 

Seeing Link blankly look at him with those same eyes that used to be full of light and affection whenever he looked at Revali was too much for him. It was too painful.

"Your job is far from finished, you know." He found himself saying with an upbeat tone that irked him. 

The stranger just watched him, waiting for him to finally stop blabbering so he could be on his way already. The eyes he stole from his Link flicked around and he was biting his lip with impatience.

Seeing him act that way, like that he didn't give a shit about Revali…..seeing him not even care that he was finally with the person that had been waiting for him so very patiently and longingly for a full century….seeing him not jumping into Revali's arms, overjoyed over how he finally was seeing him after all those long years….seeing his eyes stay dull instead of glisten with overpowering joy and glee that made it look like he was going to explode…….

The fallen Rito Champion had to turn away, and so he turned with his back facing the Link who didn't care about him and who just wanted to be on his merry way.

But that was selfish of him to think that way, right? There was still the threat of Calamity Ganon that the Hylian had to take care of, and the fact that Zelda had also been waiting for a century for Link's arrival.

That was more important.

Of course.

Of course, he knew that.

But even so….

"The princess has been waiting an awful long time." He said, his voice trailing off as he heard the Link behind him finally disappear.

 

...it was too heartless of Hylia to do this to him...

 

Revali let out a choked sob he didn't even realize he was holding in. He clenched his eyes and even being just a spirit, he felt everything that a person of flesh and blood would. 

He felt empty and worthless and broken and defeated and pathetic.

He felt like he was given the entire world only for it to be ripped away from him before he had a chance to grab it.

He felt like Hylia must have been punishing him for some sin in a past life because there was no way he, as useless and hollow as he was, could have ever deserved such torment. 

Tears might not have been able to flow from his misty form, but that didn't keep him from grossly crying and weeping. It didn't keep him from screaming at everyone and everything in existence between his hiccups and sobs. It didn't keep his heart from breaking and soul from shattering.

 

……...it was just too cruel. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> h a ha ah ha ah a ha yeah. it ended really dumbly i'm really sorry wah. i was excited to write the last part for like half a year but while i was trying to write it just......wasn't happening.  
> anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just wanted to let you guys know that this isn't the end of the story!!!!!!!!! i have an upcoming fic that i'm really really excited to write for this series so i hope that you'll be on the lookout for it!!! i've foreshadowed a lot of things for it in this chapter fyi  
> and again,,,,,,,,i'm gonna say that I made a botw rp discord so i can get better at writing Sidon and other fools in the next fic, so pwease joinnnn, help me ouuuuuut, and have fun with me!! <3 <3 <3 https://discord.gg/ch9XFVB
> 
> and blehhhh thank you so so so so much for reading this!! it really means the world to me and it makes me want to write more shitty things!!!!!! lmao  
> thank you!!!!!!!!!
> 
> (also fun fact, this whole thing is around 137 pages long haha)
> 
> edit: I just started the next installment!! Check it out [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15236424/chapters/35338458#main)


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